Usually, when any driver gears up for a season, they prepare themselves for all the races. That is unless they have been a part of the Red Bull family (and are not called Max Verstappen) for the last few years.
Red Bull is a team that has become infamous for sacking its drivers mid-season. Although even Williams did that when they fired Logan Sargeant, at Red Bull and its sister team — currently called RB — it is all too common. This is something Jenson Button pointed out in a recent episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“There is really only one team where they victimize and replace drivers in the middle of the season, and that team is Red Bull,” the 2009 World Champion stated.
Perhaps the most memorable driver change in Red Bull’s history…
…Daniil Kvyat was demoted back to Toro Rosso, with Max Verstappen being promoted replacing him at Red Bull
We wonder how that turned out? pic.twitter.com/Jm2FRPRMKu
— Autosport (@autosport) July 12, 2023
Button shed light on this after RB recently sacked Ricciardo despite there only being six races remaining in the 2024 season. But as discussed, Ricciardo wasn’t the first to fall.
The likes of Pierre Gasly, Daniil Kvyat, and Nyck de Vries were also sacked mid-season with ‘unsatisfactory results’ being dubbed the reason. Speaking of the same, Button said, “I’ve never experienced that before in my career. Unless someone crashes every race, and you can’t afford yourself as a team to be in your car.”
Why Ricciardo’s sacking was hard to digest?
Ricciardo, after spending much of the 2023 season on the sidelines, made a comeback with RB (then AlphaTauri) but had a disrupted end to the campaign, owing to a fractured hand. RB, to show faith in him — at least that’s what the community thought — offered him a seat for 2024.
However, from the get-go, the Honey Badger was put under pressure, with rumors of a dismissal growing stronger by the week. In hindsight, Ricciardo never really had a chance, as his performance and results remained sub-par.
BREAKING: Daniel Ricciardo to leave RB, the team have announced#F1 pic.twitter.com/dWK02446hM
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 26, 2024
Regardless, Button insisted that Ricciardo should have been given a full season because it is the team that have signed him in the first place and should show faith in him. That’s why “I have never felt comfortable with it“, said Button about Ricciardo’s sacking.
Considering it has been Red Bull’s strategy for the longest time to part with drivers mid-season, it is likely that Ricciardo’s firing won’t be the last bombshell they drop on someone in the middle of the campaign.
