Daniel Ricciardo nearly lost his seat at Red Bull’s second Formula 1 team much earlier in the season, Christian Horner has revealed.
The Red Bull team principal said their motorsport consultant Helmut Marko lobbied for RB to replace Ricciardo after the Spanish Grand Prix in June.RB confirmed last week Ricciardo will not return to drive for them in the final six rounds of the season. Liam Lawson has taken his place.
Horner said Ricciardo has shown flashes of potential since returning to F1 at RB last year, but suffered a lack of consistency.
“He started the season roughly,” Horner told the official F1 channel. “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 and out-driving the car. But then the Saturday afternoon and Sunday were disastrous.
“Even around Barcelona, Helmut wanted him out of the car, and there was already a lot of pressure on him there. But by the time we got to Montreal, it was actually dear old Jacques Villeneuve got him properly wound up, giving him a hard time. 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 said give Jacques a call every grand prix for the rest of the year, because whatever he said, it definitely worked.”
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Red Bull originally brought Ricciardo back to F1 as a potential future replacement for Sergio Perez at their top team. Despite Perez’s persistent underperformance this year, which has seen Red Bull lose its lead in the constructors’ championship to McLaren, Ricciardo hasn’t proved up to scratch, said Horner.
“I’ve done my very best to buy as much time in the car to allow him to deliver,” he said. “Otherwise he would have been out of the car after Barcelona.
“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 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 obviously 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’.”
Horner confirmed Lawson’s promotion to RB had been done with a view to him potentially joining Red Bull in the future. “This goes beyond [RB], it encompasses Red Bull Racing,” he said.
“Obviously we’ve got a contract with Sergio for next year but you’ve always got to have an eye out in terms of what comes next. Is that going to be Liam or do we need to look outside the pool or will one of the other juniors step up in the fullness of time whether it’s Isack Hadjar or Arvid Lindblad.”
However he admitted he hopes that next year “Checo finds his form and rediscovers the shape that he was in at the beginning of the year and nothing, nothing changes.
“But as we know in this business, two weeks is long-term.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
1st October 2024, 10:35
Well, Red Bull should’ve done so in hindsight to give Lawson even more opportunities to show his worth again.
Mayrton
2nd October 2024, 8:54
Indeed. There were only marketing reason to keep him. Better to rip off the band-aid. The waiting hurt the team long term goals.
Riker (@corsair)
1st October 2024, 10:48
Once again demonstrating that Red Bull could’ve, and should’ve, given Ricciardo a proper farewell.
I have zero respect for that company and that team.
Garns (@garns)
1st October 2024, 12:38
Correct, no way for a driver like Dan to bow out. Horner has always been an advocate and fan of Danny Ric so its really surprising and disappointing how they done this.
Edvaldo
1st October 2024, 14:00
Well, Lawson is there waiting the whole year for him to vacate the premises. Was he supposed to wait until next season just for Daniel to have a proper farewell? And what would be a proper farewell for a driver not performing well?
They gave him another shot, if it was not for them, he would be out of F1 for two years already. They did enough for him.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
1st October 2024, 14:02
I agree. Red Bull and Marko in particular, are awful. Something has changed though and now everyone is leaving. Couldn’t happen to nicer people.
Joe Seph
1st October 2024, 15:53
2 weeks of Danny Ric focus is not enough for a farewell? If it was at the end of the season it would be a blurb behind a talk about the whole season, championships…
Sucks that Lawson knew exact date before Ricciardo, but he knew RB organization and their ways…
notagrumpyfan
1st October 2024, 16:03
More than a year in an F1 car, competing in GPs all around the world, seems a pretty generous farewell tour to me.
MichaelN
1st October 2024, 13:43
Mekies is standing somewhere thinking, ‘wait, wasn’t I the team principal? Who is this guy?’
How silly that a team principal of a different team has all the inside knowledge when Mekies is standing there bumbling through his lines about not knowing whether or not Ricciardo has just driven his last GP.
Greg
1st October 2024, 13:55
Mekies is the team principal of the B team, Horner is the team principal of the A team. Both teams are owned by Red Bull and they work as a single organization. Horner and Markon know and control what happens, Mekies surely knows but I don’t know how much control he has of the situation.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
1st October 2024, 14:24
I think Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren should also run four cars.
Aston could probably run three cars.
Sainz could have stayed with Ferrari then.
Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz and Bearman in four Ferraris…
Quite a decent lineup, that. :)
I suggest:
1) A minimum of 26 cars on the grid
2) If grid is larger than 26 > prequalifying
3) Teams allowed to run 1, 2, 3 or 4 cars as they see fit
4) The Andretti entry should immediately be approved
The Dolphins
1st October 2024, 16:01
10 years ago Bernie tried to push the 3 cars per team as a solution to the threat of teams leaving F1 as it was financially unsustainable. Those teams were calling for a cost cap and Bernie was of the opinion if you can’t pay to play then leave, we can fill the grid with 3 cars per team.
Given the new regime is set on the existing makeup for the foreseeable future (read: while the current Concorde agreement is in place) I don’t see any of those suggestions coming to fruition even though they could have a positive benefit in including young drivers. To that end I personally would love to see Sprints redefined as a race for Junior drivers only and it’s something F1 can make happen within the current agreement.
notagrumpyfan
1st October 2024, 16:14
RBR is not running four cars.
Red Bull (not the team) has contracted four drivers and run them in two independent teams.
Other driver (development) programmes manage/contract often more than two active drivers as well. Ferrari places its drivers at Haas, Mercedes at Williams, etc.
SteveP
1st October 2024, 19:29
I think you will find that should read Red Bull has contracted four drivers and run them in two teams.
The word independent is most decidedly not accurate in that
Doh
1st October 2024, 19:33
Redbull is running 4 cars
Doh
1st October 2024, 19:36
Steve, they’re so independent that the leaders in the a team make decisions for the leader of the b team. The b team even makes life easy for the a team out on track. In fact the b team has shared the same name as the a team in the past. I think it would be great if mercedes and Ferrari had second teams in the way red bull do :)
MichaelN
1st October 2024, 20:24
No, but Red Bull is.
It’s not because of the weather that so much of “RB” has relocated to Milton Keynes.
It’s one big team.
Nick T.
2nd October 2024, 17:56
Not sure why it’s suddenly such a big deal just now that Red Bull make the driver decisions for two teams. All of this over a single FLAP. What a joke. You people should be thanking your lucky stars that Red Bull was around and willing to finance two teams when F1 was going through one of its biggest economic downturns ever. Otherwise, we’d have been down to as few as 14 cars and, at best, 16.
Meanwhile, the same people who whine about not enough new drivers getting a chance, seems to forget that more rookies have been given a shot through Red Bull’s teams than the rest of the grid combined since they joined F1. Even more funny is the fact that at the same time people were saying that was no longer the case at RB, the team had given two rookies race drives in less than 12 months.
anon
3rd October 2024, 7:24
Nick T., on the other hand, many would point out that the fact that Red Bull was pumping so much money into junior series helped drive the cost inflation that has now priced out many of the independent drivers of those series and made many of the junior formulas dependent on driver programmes from F1 teams.
Also, with regards to your claim that “more rookies have been given a shot through Red Bull’s teams than the rest of the grid combined since they joined F1” – the answer to that is no, they haven’t done that. You seem to be overestimating quite how many drivers have joined the sport courtesy of Red Bull, whilst simultaneously underestimating the number of drivers that other teams have supported over the years.
JMDan (@danmar)
2nd October 2024, 3:39
They can’t do first laps without crashes now what do you think 26 cars will do?
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
2nd October 2024, 22:06
Hardly the “pinnacle” of drivers then…
floodo1 (@floodo1)
1st October 2024, 13:43
Must be nice controlling 4 driver slots as a team principal
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st October 2024, 14:07
That was very kind of horner, so the rumors it was him who wanted ricciardo in and not marko were true; ricciardo’s performance would’ve been ok in terms of being a toro rosso driver, but nowhere near enough to be promoted to red bull, and they thought it was about time to give lawson an opportunity, since he wasn’t bad in his first few races; it was evident ricciardo wouldn’t have gone back to his old level, at least at toro rosso.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st October 2024, 15:48
Yeah, pretty much my take as well on this. Horner went about it in a very nice way giving him a test drive to prove himself and then put him in the car hoping for the best. Daniel just wasn’t performing at the same level and that’s that. It can happen to anyone – there’s no shame in it. Being a top performer is not a lifelong guarantee.
Nick T.
2nd October 2024, 17:58
Not sure I get this logic. His performances are good enough to replace Perez. Good enough to sign him over someone like Sainz? No, of course not. However, it’s clear they’re looking for a number two who won’t threaten Max, but won’t be as utterly pathetic as Perez.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
1st October 2024, 14:20
We can all assume that things are far from rosy at the top in RBR/RB at the moment. Which each passing week it seems to be spilling over more with drivers and high profile engineers leaving the team left right and centre.
Obviously a power struggle going on, but for whoever “wins” what is going to be left to control?
Nick T.
2nd October 2024, 18:05
The power struggle is over. Horner won. But Marko still has enough juice that when a driver who was supposed to come in and quickly be faster than Yuki failed in that assignment while holding up the junior program, he can exert his influence there. I’m sure Horner made this public because for Daniel’s sake.
And, yeah, Marko and Jos’ bid to oust Horner has likely ruined the team’s chances for the next 3-4 seasons. I’m sure Marko would do it differently if he knew what would happen. As for Jos, I bet he’s mostly happy as odds are good Max will leave for Mercedes in 2026 or AM in 2027 (or ‘26 if they ditch Stroll – FA is signed for 2026)..
Moi
1st October 2024, 14:33
I really don’t understand why Horner would publicly say this. What purpose does it serve? You keep this sort of stuff internally in any organization, and especially one with as much PR-value as Red Bull.
MichaelN
1st October 2024, 15:14
He is casting himself as the patron of a driver popular in the English media, while painting the gruff Austrian as a villain. That’s media gold right there.
Horner is also signalling to critics that Red Bull is looking forward amid constant rumours about Verstappen and a perennially underperforming Pérez, who, for whatever reason, keeps getting endless second chances from Horner. And in doing so, he is showing that he is a man on top of things. And not, you know, a man mired in controversy who has just seen several high-ranking engineers turn their back on the team as the results on track continue to get worse.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
1st October 2024, 15:39
Who cares about the English media.
To everybody else Horner is taking the blame for keeping a driver on who has no place at RB. Even after Red Bull clearly said that RB is a junior team. What Horner is really saying is that he can go against the wishes of Red Bull (Austria) and they can do nothing about it.
Ricciardo was just a pawn in this game.
MichaelN
1st October 2024, 20:26
In F1, everybody does. Maybe not beyond throwing them a bone every now and then, but it matters all the same. They set the tone.
anon
1st October 2024, 21:48
MichaelN, you frequently give the impression though that you’ve never really bothered looking into non-English speaking media sources though. You might not have intended it, but your attitude of non-English speaking media organisations slavishly following English speaking press organisations, as if they were incapable of coming up with their own interpretation, comes across as having a derogatory undertone towards non-English speaking media organisations.
Greg
1st October 2024, 23:23
In F1? Pretty much everybody. F1 is an english sport weather we in the rest of them world like it or not
The Dolphins
1st October 2024, 16:05
@Moi this has echoes of the drama from the start of the season. Internal relations between Horner and Marko/Verstappen are not great and Christian sees this as an opportunity to portray Marko negatively.
Nick T.
1st October 2024, 14:44
Well, duh IMO. It was very clear that it was Marko putting all the pressure to drop Ricciardo while it was clear that Horner would have given him the season. Marko will always be advocating for his junior drivers, but this also took on political implications as Marko felt the RB driver lineup was his turf. And if he couldn’t even make moves there, what was his role in the team?
Avro Anson (@avroanson)
1st October 2024, 15:17
I’ve wondered the same thing for a long time.
Chris (@austin-healey)
1st October 2024, 14:55
Pretty obvious Helmut didn’t want DR back, and did everything he could to sabotage him.
All payback for DR leaving in 2018 and embarrassing him.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st October 2024, 15:44
Oddly, I am with Horner on this. Red Bull has a driver problem. They have Verstappen and while he’s won 3 championships, they can’t depend on a single driver who, at any point, could leave. They were hoping to improve their driver lineup by replacing Checo with Daniel and clearly that was not going to happen.
McLaren has 2 great young drivers, Mercedes has 2 great drivers and we’ll have to see how Kimi performs. Ferrari has 2 great driver.
Red Bull has tried out more drivers than anyone over the past few years and let’s be honest – should they kept Daniel in the RB seat for 4-5 years like Checo? What’s next? Mazepin replacing Verstappen as the top driver at Red Bull with a 10 year contract alongside Checo?
As for the proper farewell, Horner tried to buy Daniel as much time as he could. You can’t have both – the proper send-off and maximum time.
Sadly, Daniel only has himself to blame. He could have been alongside Max at Austin – Red Bull would have made that happen had he proven to be faster and more consistent than Checo.
Horner gave him a 2nd chance that most drivers would never have gotten, including Vettel.
SteveP
1st October 2024, 20:09
Two, plus an incidence of handling stolen goods
iFuel
1st October 2024, 16:45
I can’t recall one single piece of news that ever showed a single positive aspect of Helmut Marko.
He’s one of the reasons why Red Bull will always be the most unlikable team on the grid.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st October 2024, 18:29
I have a feeling he doesn’t care one bit about what people say about him :-)
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
1st October 2024, 19:22
I agree. He must rejoice in being hated. It’s a pity they cannot get rid of him. That might improve things at the team. To put it charitably, he’s very unsentimental.
MichaelN
1st October 2024, 20:28
Marko has brought a boatload of great drivers into F1, all the while the “nice” team principals sit on 200 GP+ veterans who haven’t done anything noteworthy in years.
I am no big fan of Red Bull’s antics, but their late 00s, early 10s young driver program was excellent.
José Lopes da Silva
2nd October 2024, 14:39
Thanks for the article. I had already forgot the Villeneuve comments and “incident”.
Criticism on Villeneuve is usually about his persona and seldom about the nature of his comments. Half of the times he is very right and straight to the point. An F1 driver – let alone a Top Driver – cannot show that he is quick only after being “bullied” by someone other than himself. He must delivery every time or most of the time.
Villeneuve himself did not have a “proper farewell”, and he didn’t deserve one.