Daniel Ricciardo is currently under contract in Formula 1 with AlphaTauri. But if he had decided a little differently in the past, then he could now possibly drive alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, team boss Christian Horner revealed that before the Grand Prix in Las Vegas next weekend.
Six Formula 1 teams are already on Daniel Ricciardo’s career list. The Australian had his most successful time between 2014 and 2018 at Red Bull Racing, where he returned at the beginning of the year after an interlude at Renault (2019 to 2020) and McLaren (2021 to 2022) – albeit in a new role as test and reserve driver – until he finally replaced the shaky Nyck de Vries at the sister racing team AlphaTauri in the summer.
According to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, Ricciardo could have avoided the many changes and continued to drive with the Austrian racing team after 2018. As Horner revealed in the “Eff Won” podcast, the Australian had a lucrative extension offer.
“Daniel is a great guy who was given very bad advice at the beginning of his career,” said Horner, adding: “But everyone messes up at some point in life. I think he has now realized that it was a mistake, Leaving Red Bull.”
Ricciardo probably saw how well his teammate Max Verstappen was doing at a young age and had no idea how good he could become himself, Horner said of Ricciardo and suspected that he was worried that he was just Could become the wingman of the up-and-coming Verstappen.
Christian Horner: Red Bull should show Ricciardo “love”.
“So I was with Dietrich back then [Mateschitz] and said: ‘Look, this is going to be a bit tight with Daniel, as far as signing his new contract is concerned, can you show him a bit of love, because Helmut [Marko] is obviously very pro-Max,” Horner revealed the contents of a conversation with the now deceased Red Bull founder.
Mateschitz was supposed to “balance the whole thing a little” and show Ricciardo “that he wants him”. So, on Horner’s advice, Mateschitz disappeared into a meeting room in the Austrian paddock with the Australian. “They were gone for over an hour and then both showed up again with a smile on their faces,” Horner said, indicating that the veteran had received a well-paid offer.
In the end, Ricciardo decided to change and, as is well known, signed with Renault.