The career arc of Daniel Ricciardo saw him take a long route to end up back where he started from. As the Australian attempts to relive his glory days with Red Bull, many continue to question his decision to leave the team in the first place. Meanwhile, PlanetF1 quotes F1 pundit Peter Windsor as being angry with the 34-year-old over his decision to leave the team in the first place.
Among various other questions, a prominent question came in the form of whether Ricciardo ever regretted stepping away from Red Bull in hopes of finding success elsewhere. In December last year, the ‘Honey Badger’ addressed the question by revealing he never regretted the decision to leave the Milton Keynes-based outfit. Ricciardo added that he was proud of being able to help Renault get back on the podium during one of his best seasons in F1 (2020).
Daniel Ricciardo blasted by Peter Windsor for his career choices
As might be true for many people out there, Windsor is a fan of Ricciardo, owing to the Australian’s positive attitude and the even more optimistic smile. However, it does not stop him from criticizing Ricciardo’s decisions, especially the one he made back in 2018. Speaking during a livestream on his YouTube channel (further reported by Planet F1), the 71-year-old blasted his countryman for ever leaving Red Bull.
“I’ll just never forgive him for leaving Red Bull though. For me, it doesn’t matter what the situation is, you don’t leave a team as good as that to go and do what he did. I was disappointed that he did that.”
As many speculate, Ricciardo left because he did not feel ready to compete against Max Verstappen, experts claim the Australian should never have moved away from the Austrian outfit.
Since Ricciardo’s exit, Verstappen has picked up two driver’s titles and is on course to pick up his third. Had Ricciardo stayed, a case can be made for a much more closely-fought battle between the Red Bull drivers, where Ricciardo could have seen himself become a world champion, too.
Ricciardo aiming for a glorious return to Red Bull
Serving as Nyck de Vries’ replacement in AlphaTauri, the ultimate goal for Ricciardo would be to make a famous comeback to the team where he won eight races between 2014 and 2018. Speaking about the same, Ricciardo once admitted to the return being the “fairytale ending to finish my career if I could have it all my way.” However, given his current injury, it seems likely the Australian might not have it all his way after all.
🚨 CONFIRMED: Liam Lawson will race in this weekend’s Qatar GP, with Daniel Ricciardo targeting a return in Austin.#F1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/eaeoUEJQjf
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) October 3, 2023
Ricciardo’s untimely injury gave way to Liam Lawson becoming the find of the season with his impressive performances race after race. Lawson became the one responsible for knocking Verstappen out in Q2 in Singapore while consistently outperforming his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. As such, there might be a major reshuffling of the driver lineups sooner rather than later. For now, Ricciardo and Tsunoda round up the driver lineup in AlphaTauri for the upcoming season, while Lawson will remain with Red Bull as their reserve driver.
