Christian Horner reveals he asked Daniel Ricciardo to ‘stop joking’ after telling him about his 2018 decision to ditch Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo has not had the best of times since leaving the Red Bull Formula 1 team.

Christian Horner reveals he asked Daniel Ricciardo to ‘stop joking’ after telling him about his 2018 decision to ditch Red Bull

Christian Horner and Daniel Ricciardo (Via IMAGO)

Daniel Ricciardo, the former 8-time Grand Prix winner, has had quite a ride since leaving Red Bull after the end of the 2018 F1 season. While he is racing for the Red Bulls sister team(AlphaTauri), Christian Horner has reminisced about the infamous saga he had ahead of during the closing stages of the 2018 campaign.

During that year, the Milton-Keynes-based team was facing several internal issues, and from the outside, it was clear that something shady was brewing within the team. However, no one in their wildest imaginations thought Daniel Ricciardo would ditch Red Bull for Renault ahead of 2019.

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Christian Horner has recently taken the time to talk about that infamous 2018 saga, and while sharing his thoughts about it on the Eff Won With DRS podcast, he admitted that he was shocked and thought the Australian was joking. Horner’s shock came from the fact that Ricciardo was going to a team that didn’t have the best reputation for engine reliability, which was one of the major factors of his Red Bulle exit.

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At that point, I asked him if he had received any offers from Mercedes or Ferrari, and he told me 'No, I'm going to sign for Renault'. I was shocked because he had been complaining about the engine for two years and then was going to sign with them. Daniel has a sense of humor, I thought he was making fun of me. I told him to stop joking, but he confirmed to me that he would really go to Renault.

Daniel Ricciardo’s main objective is to get back into the Red Bull F1 team

While Christian Horner has made his shock known regarding Daniel Ricciardo’s 2018 decision, the latter has not had the best of time since leaving them. Ricciardo’s Renault stint was very productive, but after switching to McLaren in 2021, he’s not had the best of times.

Daniel Ricciardo (Credits: Planet F1)
Daniel Ricciardo (Credits: Planet F1)

In 2021, he had a talented driver like Lando Norris as his teammate at McLaren for the 2021 campaign. The former had been racing for them since 2019, but everyone expected Ricciardo to lead the team into a glorious future. However, what happened afterward was one of the darkest phases of the Australian’s F1 career.

He was outclassed by Norris during their time together and even shown the exit door at the end of 2022. After spending some time on the sidelines, he is finally back into the racing fold with AlphaTauri and is targeting a 2025 birth with Red Bull. However, it is not going to be easy keeping in view how sought after the Red Bull seat is.

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