07/10/2024
NEWS STORY
Christian Horner reveals that while he wanted to see Daniel Ricciardo see out the season, Helmut Marko wanted the Australian out after Barcelona weekend.
Admitting that it was the lack of consistency that led to Ricciardo's downfall, as the chances of the Australian returning to the big team diminished so too did his hopes of even retaining his seat at RB, with Marko pushing particularly hard to drop him.
"I think it was the lack of consistency," Horner tells the F1 Nation podcast. "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.
"Around Barcelona, Helmut wanted him out of the car," admits the Briton.
"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 who got him properly wound up by giving him a hard time," the Red Bull boss continues. "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!
"I've done my very best to buy him as much time in the car to allow him to deliver," insists the Briton, "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. The problem was, they both had issues with form at varying times. Checo started the season very well, very strongly, and Daniel was struggling. 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."
"I would have loved to see him use it as a springboard to get back to where he was, to have completed the story, but it wasn't to be," Horner admits. "Daniel's honest about that, and he knows in his heart he gave it his best shot. He's had a great career, he's had a great run, but unfortunately the next chapter wasn't to be."
Confirming that the Australian has been offered an ambassadorial role with the team, much like that of David Coulthard, Horner explains: "He's so good in front of the camera. He's a natural entertainer and a showman, he will be for sure in front of the camera at some point and I'm sure there will be a documentary or something, that will be fascinating."
As for Lawson, Perez and 2025...
"From a broader perspective we need answers for the bigger picture in terms of drivers," he admits. "With six races remaining, it's the perfect opportunity to line Liam up alongside Yuki, to see how he performs.
"This goes beyond VCARB, it encompasses Red Bull Racing," he adds. "We have 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? Will one of the other juniors step up in the fullness of time, whether that's Isack Hadjar or Arvid Lindblad?"
And then there's George Russell...