After his embarrassing McLaren ousting, Daniel Ricciardo got a second lease on his F1 life and a chance for a fairytale ending at Red Bull. The bosses of the Austrian outfit gave him a seat just six months after his absence from the grid in the sister team. However, now he’s suffered a similar outcome with his RB stint ending earlier than expected. As per the Red Bull boss Christian Horner, it was because of his lack of consistency.
Ricciardo showed positive signs in his limited time with the Faenza-based outfit. The 35-year-old proved he still has pace and talents and can still make those late dive bombs even until recently.
The highlights of his stint with RB came in the Miami GP sprint race where he finished in P4. The whole weekend in Canada was excellent for the Australian where he finished eighth. However, it’s not about one or two performances.
On the F1 Nation podcast, Horner highlighted how these bursts of performances were infrequent. He said, “I think it was the lack of consistency. Miami was a weekend of two halves. The Friday and Saturday morning was fantastic and it looked like the Daniel of old defending against Ferraris and you know out driving the car. But then the Saturday afternoon and the Sunday were disastrous.”
This lack of consistency led to the honchos at Red Bull making the harsh decision. Ricciardo was initially put in the sister team to be vetted as a replacement for Sergio Perez. He impressed everyone after his test in Silverstone last year which earned him the drive. However, the Aussie turned out to have poorer consistency than the guy he was supposed to replace.
Horner also reveals why Ricciardo wasn’t made to see out 2024
It’s understandable for a team to not renew a driver’s contract based on their performance. However, despite not being able to live up to the expectations, Ricciardo wasn’t costing the team millions in crash damage or hampering their growth with his presence.
Despite that, he suffered the harshest treatment a driver can ever face in F1. When asked about it by Tom Clarkson, Horner revealed this mid-season change was made keeping the bigger picture in mind.
He said, “Well, of course, in a perfect world that would have been what we would have done. But from a broader perspective, we need answers for the bigger picture in terms of drivers.”
“Of course, you know with six races remaining it’s the perfect opportunity to line Liam (Lawson) up alongside Yuki (Tsunoda) to see how he performs over the remaining six Grands Prix.”
Despite Horner’s attempts to remain ambiguous, it’s clear drivers in RB are being vetted for the Red Bull seat. Currently, Perez is not performing up to the mark. Despite a valid contract, the Austrian outfit is looking for his replacement. However, it’s proving to be more challenging than the reigning champions could’ve ever imagined.
