Daniel Ricciardo talks about how he doesn’t regret leaving Red Bul despite Max Verstappen winning the championship in 2021.
The Honey Badger left Red Bull for Renault after five successful years. The main argument behind his departure was the meteoric rise of Max Verstappen in the team, and he wanted to be the main man as he back then and still aims for the championship.
Now, almost two years after his departure, Red Bull won a drivers’ championship with the Dutchman. When asked Ricciardo whether he regrets his decision of leaving Red Bull as it could be him, the McLaren star replies absolutely not.
“The honest answer is no,” he replies after a short silence to a question from Motorsport.com. “I hesitated for a while because I don’t want to come across as curt and disrespectful to Red Bull by saying no. ”
“Because they have meant a lot to my career. I drove there for five years and at a certain point I just had the feeling that I was ready for something new.”
Also read: Daniel Ricciardo believes first race will be absolutely essential learning curve
Daniel Ricciardo feels he wouldn’t have won the championship in 2021 with Red Bull
The Australian race driver further admits that had he been still paired with Verstappen, he wouldn’t have been a champion in 2021 too. He feels that staying at the Milton-Keynes side would have not allowed him to maintain his better version.
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Riccardo claimed victory at the #CanadianGP after an action packed race #F1 pic.twitter.com/IWhGspOehs
— Daniel Perkin (@DanielPerkin) June 8, 2014
“I’m not sure if I would have been a better version of myself if I had continued for another year in 2019 and then stayed for 2020 and 2021 as well,” Ricciardo said.
“So if I had raced there last year, I might still not have come close to winning the title. You just don’t know things like that. I was ready for a change and it certainly hasn’t always been easy after that. ”
“But I honestly don’t regret the switch I made at the time and everything I’ve been through since then. When I saw Max win the title last year, I didn’t think for a moment, ‘What if…’ It didn’t make me feel bad and I didn’t have any feelings along the lines of ‘poor me’.”
“In fact, I’m happy for them that they’re back at the top. If it can’t be me, I’d rather be them.”
Also read: Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris have a peek at McLaren’s MCL36 but in a miniature version
