Breaking news
Formula 1
Red Bull tried everything to keep Ricciardo
Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner believes that his team did everything it could to convince Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo to stay for next season.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Dec 29, 2018, 10:10 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
After weeks of discussions, Ricciardo was expected to sign a new contract with the Milton Keynes-based squad shortly after the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July.
But the Australian opted instead to join Renault and caught Horner and Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko by surprise when he informed them of his decision.
“We looked at it and I think we did everything that we possibly could to retain him,” Horner told Motorsport.com.
“He actually said this – he did the classic break-up [line] – it not you, it’s me! And I think he just genuinely wanted to take on a new challenge.
“I think he was also probably concerned about his value with the evolution of Max [Verstappen], and was probably uncertain about Honda at that time. Subsequently he’s seen what we were talking about start to come to fruition.
“You always have a Plan B. I think once we understood that he was serious, that that was his mindset, it was a very easy decision to come to regarding Pierre Gasly.”
Read Also:
- Ricciardo stopped caring about intra-team battle stats
- F1 tech review: Did Red Bull really have the best chassis?
- Ricciardo: Gaps to Verstappen "don't show the true picture"
Horner insists however that Red Bull has not favoured Verstappen over Ricciardo.
“The number one driver in this team is the driver who is ahead on the track," he stated. "That’s the simple rule.
"And there is zero favouritism in the way that we operate the team, from one driver to the other. Daniel will tell you that very openly.
“Mexico was the first time that Daniel outqualified Max since Monaco. Max’s qualifying performances have been huge, and that was probably part of Daniel’s decision taking for the future.”
Horner also acknowledged that Ricciardo had endured a frustrating time with reliability issues, with eight non-scores across the course of 2018 causing him to slump to sixth in the points.
“I think it’s been a difficult season for Daniel. He’s had to cope with Max’s continued evolution, and while issues have happened to both drivers, they’ve tended to happen to Daniel on a Sunday rather than Max.
“The clutch bearing that Daniel had fail in Sunday in Mexico, Max had on Friday. In practice in Brazil Max’s oil tower developed a leak and a crack that was there from Mexico, and thankfully it didn’t stop the car there.
"And yet 12 months ago Max was having that bad luck.”
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14, climbs from his car after stopping on track
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Design legend Gordon Murray gets CBE in New Year Honours
Next article Grosjean proud of comeback against Magnussen
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Daniel Ricciardo
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Formula 1
Formula 1
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
WEC
WEC
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Latest news
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 1 h
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
10 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
10 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 10 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe