“His timing was spectacularly bad" - Daniel Ricciardo missed out on an opportunity with a resurgent Red Bull, claims Christian Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes that Daniel Ricciardo left his team at the worst possible moment, thereby missing out on a “competitive package”. Ricciardo left for Renault at the end of 2018 after reportedly refusing a “stratospheric” offer by Red Bull.

Explaining the reasons behind Ricciardo’s exit to The Weekend Australian, Horner said:

“His timing was spectacularly bad because obviously, he had doubts about the Honda engine and then [Honda] went on to prove there it was a competitive power unit and a race-winning package.’’

Horner believes Max Verstappen’s “ascendancy” within Red Bull was one of the main reasons behind the Australian's exit. He added, saying:

“Daniel [Ricciardo] is a great driver and we were sad when he decided to leave the team here. He could see Max [Verstappen] in the ascendancy and he didn’t want to become the second driver.”

After nearly a decade with Red Bull, both in his junior career as well as in F1, Daniel Ricciardo left Milton Keynes in search of new avenues in 2018. His departure was a shock to both Red Bull and the F1 community alike.

In the past, Ricciardo himself has attributed tensions between himself and Verstappen, as well as Red Bull’s supposed favoritism towards the latter, as the reason behind his departure.

While they got on well off-track, Ricciardo and Verstappen had several controversial encounters on-track while they were teammates. The infamous collision between the two at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix is thought to be a major influence on Ricciardo’s decision to quit the Austrian team.

Furthermore, Red Bull’s decision to partner with Honda for the 2019 season was met with skepticism from the Australian. The Japanese manufacturer had previously failed to perform as expected during its brief stint with McLaren.

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Daniel Ricciardo facing a “tough time” with struggles at McLaren

Christian Horner believes Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles at McLaren have given the Australian a “hard time”. Horner felt that it was unfortunate that Ricciardo’s career choices post-Red Bull haven’t worked out as expected. Speaking to The Weekend Australian, he said:

“He’s great natural abilities, a big personality. It’s unfortunately not worked out for him the way he would have liked. Of course, now he’s got a competitive team-mate as well. It’s given him a hard time and you know, that’s tough for him.’’

Ricciardo struggled to adapt to his new car at McLaren last season. While his younger and less experienced teammate was consistently troubling the front runners, often grabbing podiums and a pole position, Ricciardo generally lacked the pace for a top-10 finish.