Ricciardo identifies how Red Bull sim helped improve his driving

Daniel Ricciardo has identified where his time in the Red Bull simulator has helped while out of a full-time drive.

The Australian spent the first half of the season on the sidelines with his former team, with Team Principal Christian Horner noting that he "picked up habits" that affected his calibre.

Ricciardo spoke about his experience coming back in the simulator when speaking to media, including RacingNews365: "When I first drove the sim, I could see it now that a bit of time had passed. And, you know, obviously, I haven't been in a race seat for a few months.

"I could kind of see myself last year, as an example, that was lacking. And I knew it at the time, but you know, you see things a bit more clearly, probably, with hindsight as well.

"I was just kind of lacking a little bit of that confidence and that just kind of going out there and just driving, in simple terms. You just get probably other thoughts that creep into your mind."

Ricciardo: I was nervously excited

Ricciardo had the benefit of some familiar faces on his team when he returned to the sim, which helped with his confidence.

He added: "Going back into Red Bull it was exciting for me, but I was also a little bit nervously excited. So probably just that comfort or confidence in those first few runs on the sim.

"It took a little bit to probably just shake a few things out and try to just find my old self again. I think what helped a lot was working with Simon Rennie, my engineer at Red Bull back when I was racing there. He's been running the sim.

"I think that as well, kind of getting a bit of familiarity, working with him, kind of quickly got my confidence back. And obviously you look at the data and try to learn from Max and Checo who are very familiar with that car."