Daniel Ricciardo decided to leave Red Bull in 2018 to join Renault which kickstarted a domino effect, ultimately leading up to his two-year nightmare stint with McLaren. However, this could have been prevented had he listened to Sebastian Vettel’s arch nemesis Mark Webber’s advice ahead of his departure.
Ricciardo had the best stint of his F1 career with Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, but in his last year, he felt that he needed a new challenge. The Aussie set off for Enstone, hoping that he could lead a project in a team that had world title ambitions. However, Renault didn’t turn out to be the team he was looking for, and after two quiet mellow years with the French team, he moved to Woking to join McLaren.
On paper, Ricciardo’s McLaren move was incredible and a partnership with Lando Norris seemed like one of the strongest on the grid. Unfortunately, the Perth-born driver ended up being comprehensively outperformed by young Norris in both 2021 and 2022. After a disastrous two-year spell, he lost out on his seat at McLaren and was consequently forced to take a break from F1.
How Daniel Ricciardo could have avoided the McLaren horror-show
Mark Webber was always one of the most recognizable figures within the Red Bull fraternity during his time as an F1 driver. However, in his latter years, he spent the majority of time in his four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel’s shadows. They developed a frosty relationship both on and off the track, with Webber often being regarded as Vettel’s arch-nemesis, especially after the infamous multi-21 incident.
However, considering Webber and Ricciardo are from the same country, the former always had a good relationship with the honey badger. When Ricciardo told Webber about his desire to leave F1 at the end of the 2018 season, he asked him not to. Unfortunately, Ricciardo didn’t listen to him.
“I wanted him to stay with Red Bull,” he said as per F1maximaal.nl. “I think he remembers when I tried to persuade him to stay a few years ago. But it was clear that he wanted to go to Renault at the time”
Interestingly, after spending four seasons away from the team that made him a star, Ricciardo finds himself back where it all started for him.
Ricciardo is back to his roots, where it all started for him
After failing to find a seat for the 2023 season, Ricciardo chose to make a return to Red Bull. However, instead of lining up on the grid, his job was on the sidelines, as a reserve driver. He insisted that he was happy with the role and was waiting for the right opportunity to kickstart his comeback.
When Nyck de Vries got sacked by AlphaTauri, however, it was Ricciardo who became their first choice. The Aussie will now drive for the Faenza-based outfit for the remainder of the 2023 season and is hoping to put in his best performance.
If Ricciardo manages to impress Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, he could even get a shot at Red Bull, with Max Verstappen’s current teammate Sergio Perez under fire for his recent string of poor performances.
