Red Bull boss, Christian Horner admits to being saddened by Daniel Ricciardo's current situation, saying he doesn't recognise him as the same man who won seven Grands Prix with the team.

Though he is putting a brave face on things, that famous smile, the infectious laugh is missing, and understandably so.

As Alpine and McLaren head to the Contract Recognition Board over who has the rights to Oscar Piastri's services, Ricciardo is left in limbo.

The Woking team has already dropped him and Alpine, with whom he spent two seasons, are hardly falling over themselves, while at Haas, Guether Steiner admits the Australian is one of many drivers being considered as teammate to Kevin Magnussen.

Having made his debut with Hispania in 2011, Ricciardo subsequently joined Toro Rosso before being promoted to the 'big team' in 2014.

There, much like Charles Leclerc was to do at Ferrari several years later, Ricciardo upstaged the incumbent number one, a certain Sebastian Vettel, so much so that the German left at season end.

Now, as his options appear to range between Alpine, Haas, WEC or a sabbatical, his former boss, Christian Horner finds it hard to accept the Australian's demise.

"It's just very sad," he told Sky Sports. "I am not close to it. I have spoken to Daniel a little bit but I don't recognise him as the same driver as he was when he was with us.

"He's one of the best guys out there," he continued. "He's definitely got that capability.

"I hope he finds a seat in F1, I hope he finds his mojo because if you think back to some of the races he drove for us, winning Monaco with 50% of the power (2018), he put in some amazing performances and you have to think when he was alongside Seb, when he first came into the team, how he delivered, how close he was with Max as well.

"It's tough for him but I really hope he finds something for the future."

Much like Vettel saw the writing on the wall in 2014, Ricciardo opted to leave Red Bull at the end of 2018 as it became clear that Max Verstappen was going to be the team's focus.

"We saw how close those guys were," said Horner. "Max has evolved since Daniel left the team but Daniel, on his day, he was right there. He put in some amazing performances. We were sad to see him leave the team and his confidence has been zapped.

"We're used to seeing him on the podium doing shoeys, messing around with that smile but we don't see any of that anymore."

"I hope that he finds an opportunity to further his career because I think F1 is better off having him in this championship than not."

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