Marko wanted to oust Ricciardo much earlier, claims Horner
On the back of changes to RB's driver line-up, Christian Horner has revealed that Red Bull's motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko wanted to oust Daniel Ricciardo much earlier during the current season.
After the Singapore Grand Prix, the Visa Cash App RB confirmed that Liam Lawson will be driving for the Faenza-based outfit for the remainder of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship season, racing alongside Yuki Tsunoda in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
Lawson has been a Red Bull reserve driver since 2022, making his Grand Prix debut in Zandvoort last year during Daniel’s recovery period.
His impressive five-race drive saw him score points for the Team, finishing ninth in the Singapore GP.
Reflecting on the decision regarding Ricciardo's future, Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner has told the F1 Nation podcast there were calls to axe the Australian from the RB cockpit after June's Spanish Grand Prix.
“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.
“Even around Barcelona, Helmut [Marko, Red Bull motorsport advisor] wanted him out of the car.
“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.
“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."
Having left McLaren at the end of the 2022 season, Ricciardo returned to the Red Bull family in 2023 as a reserve driver. The Australian then took over from rookie Nick de Vries in the sister team [then called AlphaTauri], before breaking his wrist and missing several races.
Pushed on to reveal why Red Bull brought Ricciardo back to Formula One, Horner said that the Milton Keynes-based outfit hoped that the Australian could rejoin Max Verstappen if Sergio Perez continued to falter.
"I've done my very best to buy him as much time in the car to allow him to deliver, so otherwise he would have been out of the car after Barcelona," Horner said.
"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 [Perez] 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, 'OK we should switch the two drivers'."
