“He didn’t want to become the second driver”- Christian Horner thinks Daniel Ricciardo had spectacularly bad timing in leaving Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull and joined Renault at the end of 2018 and the Red Bull team boss still does not understand this decision.

Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018 as the year turned out to be very frustrating for the Australian. He joined Renault in 2019 and took two podiums before he changed his outfit again to McLaren in 2021.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner still does not understand the Australian’s decision to quit Red Bull. Horner said that the Milton-Keynes based team made him a ‘stratospheric’ offer at that time. But the Aussie anyway decided to move on to the French outfit.

In 2021, Ricciardo drove for McLaren alongside teammate Lando Norris and while it seemed to have performed good in the 2021 season, things are not going so well in 2022 for the team.

However, since 2018 Red Bull has been on the rise and even won the 2021 Drivers’ title with Max Verstappen.

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Daniel Ricciardo had bad timing

Horner said that Red Bull offered Ricciardo a huge amount to stay but he decided to move to a different environment. His decision also many to speculate about the fear he had of his young teammate Max Verstappen.

Horner said, “His timing was spectacularly bad. On the other hand, he could see that Max was blossoming and he didn’t want to become the second driver.”

The Red Bull boss has little sympathy for the Australian’s choice but he still misses him. After all, Ricciardo is a GP winner and, as a veteran, was much needed in the team.

With Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon, the team has had a couple of misfires. After more than a year, the team has found a veteran in Sergio Perez and it seems more suitable than the young talents.

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