After the retirement of compatriot Mark Webber, the Australian was promoted to the senior Red Bull team in 2014.
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Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, has spoken out about Daniel Ricciardo’s decision to leave the team at the end of 2018. Ricciardo had worked his way up through the Red Bull programme, making his Grand Prix debut at Silverstone in 2011 with the short-lived HRT team before joining Toro Rosso in 2012. After the retirement of compatriot Mark Webber, the Australian was promoted to the senior Red Bull team in 2014, initially racing alongside Sebastian Vettel, then Daniil Kvyat, and finally Max Verstappen from 2016.
However, as Verstappen’s success grew and he became the team’s primary development focus, Ricciardo became dissatisfied with the situation in Milton Keynes and decided to leave. Furthermore, the Australian was hesitant to break his long-standing ties with Renault as the team embarked on a risky partnership with Honda. Even as Renault struggled to stay afloat, the Japanese manufacturer delivered.
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“Daniel could see Max in the ascendancy and he didn’t want to become the second driver,” Horner told The Weekend Australian newspaper. “His timing was spectacularly bad because obviously he had doubts about the Honda engine. Then [Honda] went on to prove it was a competitive power unit and a race-winning package.”
Horner said the team was confident in its ability to keep Ricciardo after making big money offers to extend his contract, and was surprised when he left to join Renault. “We put offers in front of him that were stratospheric,” he said.
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“Daniel is a great driver and we were sad when he decided to leave the team here. And it’s unfortunately not worked out for him the way he would have liked.”
After a disappointing first season at Renault, Ricciardo accepted a deal to join McLaren alongside Lando Norris. Despite an unexpected victory in last year’s Italian Grand Prix, the 32-year-old has struggled in this area as well. Despite the fact that his abrupt departure caused Red Bull to have difficulty filling the second seat alongside Verstappen – first with Pierre Gasly, then Alex Albon, and, starting in 2021, with veteran racer Sergio Perez – Horner clearly still has respect for the Australian.
“He’s got great natural abilities, a big personality,” he said. “Of course, now he’s got a competitive team-mate as well. It’s given him a hard time and that’s tough for him.”
