Christian Horner revealed Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko wanted Daniel Ricciardo dropped by RB after June’s Spanish Grand Prix.
After months of speculation, Ricciardo was released by Red Bull’s junior squad following last month’s Singapore Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson taking his seat for the final six rounds of the 2024 season.
At the time of his dropping, Ricciardo had scored 10 less points than his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who most had expected the Australian to outperform.
“I think it was the lack of consistency,” Red Bull team principal Horner told the F1 Nation podcast.
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Sky Sports’ Craig Slater believes Ricciardo will not return to F1 in the future and also speculates on whether Liam Lawson driving for RB until the end of the season could open up an opportunity at Red Bull
“I mean he started the season roughly, then Miami was a weekend of two halves, the Friday and Saturday morning was fantastic, and it looked like the Daniel of old, defending against Ferraris, out-driving the car, but then Saturday afternoon and the Sunday were disastrous.
“Even around Barcelona, Helmut wanted him out of the car, there was already a lot of pressure on him there.”
The move appears to be the final act of Ricciardo’s F1 career as a driver, with the 35-year-old having claimed eight victories in 257 grand prix starts across 14 seasons.
Villeneuve feud ‘fired up’ Ricciardo
Ricciardo produced his best result of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix having been “fired up” by criticism from Sky Sports guest pundit Jacques Villeneuve.
The 1997 world champion questioned whether Ricciardo deserved his place on the grid, before he responded by qualifying fifth in Montreal and taking eighth in the race.
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Jacques Villeneuve questioned why Ricciardo was still driving in F1
“By the time we got to Montreal, it was actually dear old Jacques Villeneuve who got him properly wound up by giving him a hard time,” Horner said.
“And it definitely fired him up, because the way he drove the car that weekend, he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and put together a very strong race weekend.
“So I did say [to Ricciardo] give Jacques a call every time every grand prix, for the rest of the year, because whatever he said, it definitely worked.”
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Ricciardo was pleased to quieten some of his critics, including Villeneuve, after qualifying fifth in Canada
However, Ricciardo was unable to maintain that form as he followed up with 15th in Spain. He delivered points in Austria and Belgium before the summer break but then finished outside the top 10 in his final four races with the team.
Despite Ricciardo’s inconsistency, there remained speculation that he could be given a surprise promotion to Red Bull in place of the struggling Sergio Perez, but Horner decided to stick with the Mexican.
“I’ve done my very best to buy him as much time in the car to allow him to deliver, so otherwise he would have been out of the car after Barcelona,” Horner added.
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We take a look at Ricciardo’s best bits during his F1 career
“All the drivers are under pressure to deliver but the reason that Daniel was in that car was to get himself back into a position to ultimately be there to pick up the pieces if Checo [Perez] didn’t deliver.
“And the problem was they both had issues with form at varying times. Checo started the season very well, very strongly and Daniel was struggling, and then as Checo lost form Daniel found a bit of form but it was never compelling enough to say, ‘okay we should switch the two drivers’.”
Just six races remain in Formula 1 2024 and the season resumes with the United States Grand Prix in Austin from October 18-20, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime