“Max coming on the scene was a crunch point in his career” : Helmut Marko adamant that Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull to avoid a fight with Verstappen

“Max coming on the scene was a crunch point in his career” : Helmut Marko adamant that Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull to avoid a fight with Verstappen

Helmut Marko thinks that the postponement of the new technical directive is good, but that 'it's still too early'.

Helmut Marko was of the opinion that Daniel Ricciardo bailed out of a direct fight with the still maturing Max Verstappen. Marko was confident on this being one of the main reasons that the Aussie driver left the Milton Keynes establishment. Max Verstappen was racing for Toro Rosso at the starting of the 2016 Formula One season until a shock decision led to the Dutch driver being swapped with Daniil Kvyat before the Spanish Grand Prix.

This was Max Verstappen’s first race in a top team and also his first race being partnered up with Daniel Ricciardo where the Dutch driver won on his debut, shocking a plethora of fans and shutting down every critic. This must have been the moment that Daniel Ricciardo realised that Max was a force to be reckoned with. 

Daniel Ricciardo had said that one of the reasons for the Aussie leaving the team was the way they handled the situation in 2018 during the Azerbaijan GP. Baku was a drama filled race with the two drivers colliding with each other resulting in both failing to finish the race. Red Bull had publicly blamed Daniel Ricciardo for the crash which was a bittersweet moment for the Aussie driver.

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“He’s just lacking that ultimate consistency.” : Helmut Marko on Daniel Ricciardo’s performance

Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo

“Max coming on the scene was a crunch point in his career,” the Austrian told the latest Red Bull Bulletin. “Rather than taking up the fight, he wanted to keep his distance.

“And you know what happened next. That’s too bad!

“He was always nice to work with. His speed is comparable to that of Max, but he’s just lacking that ultimate consistency.”

Since Daniel Ricciardo left Re Bull Racing, it has been a tough few years for the Aussie driver with him competing for two years with Renault and the other two with Mclaren where both teams have not lived up to his expectations that he had after leaving Redbull. Daniel Ricciardo has confirmed that he will be in Formula One till the end of 2023 with Mclaren but his future in the sport after that is a bit doubtful.

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