Formula 1: Christian Horner reveals why he believes Daniel Ricciardo is leaving Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has revealed why he believes Daniel Ricciardo signed with Renault Sport for the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo made a shocking decision last Friday to sign a two-year contract to drive for Renault Sport starting in the 2019 Formula 1 season.

The 29-year-old Australian is currently in his fifth season and fifth consecutive season driving for Red Bull Racing, and he has been in the Red Bull Racing organization since 2008. In fact, every full-time Formula 1 ride he has had has been within the Red Bull Racing organization.

Ricciardo drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team, in the 2012 and 2013 seasons before he was promoted to Red Bull Racing in the 2014 season. He was Toro Rosso’s full-time test driver in the 2011 season before he was given a ride with HRT for the season’s final 11 races, the only 11 races in which he has ever driven for a non-Red Bull Racing team.

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While the seven-time Grand Prix winner has not stated specifically why he opted not to re-sign with Red Bull Racing and instead opted to sign with Renault despite the fact that Red Bull Racing have been far more successful than Renault in recent seasons, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner believes that he knows at least some of what caused Ricciardo to make up his mind.

Here is what Horner had to say about why he believes Ricciardo decided to sign with Renault as opposed to Red Bull Racing for the 2019 season, according to ESPN.

"“Daniel said he decided after a long flight to America that he wanted a change. If you look at the rational reasons for that, it’s difficult to understand but Daniel obviously had his reasons. I think it came down to wanting to take on, in his words, ‘a new challenge’ but I also think that he sees Max [Verstappen] growing and growing in terms of speed and strength and he doesn’t want to play a support role — for want of a better word because it’s not that they are treated in any way different.“[They would have been guaranteed] absolute equal status as they have always had [at Red Bull], but I can’t help but feel that was a large part of Daniel’s decision making. I could understand if it was to Ferrari or Mercedes, but it’s an enormous risk at this stage of his career.“I have to admit, it’s been a bit like trying to convince a girl to go out with you who’s being pretty reticent. I guess when you look at it it’s felt like that.“Daniel’s had conversations with Dietrich, with myself, with Helmut and we have bent over backwards to make it happen, but if your heart is not really in it then … it’s just felt like that. At the end of the day, we have given Daniel everything that he ever wanted and it still wasn’t enough in his mind to say ‘I want to keep going at Red Bull’.“So it wasn’t about money, it wasn’t about status, it wasn’t about position or commitment or duration, I think he felt that he needed to take something else on at this stage in his career. It might be an inspired choice, it might be one that he regrets.”"

Max Verstappen has clearly grown as a driver. At age 20, he has already racked up four Formula 1 victories. No other drivers in Formula 1 history have turned 21 years old with even one victory under their belts.

While Horner claims that Verstappen and Ricciardo would have been guaranteed equal status, it would not be surprising if Ricciardo saw things differently. Red Bull Racing pretty much established Verstappen as their number one driver last season when he signed a contract to remain with the team through at least the 2020 season and the team revealed that they wanted to build around him.

As a result, Horner’s logic that Ricciardo agreed to sign with Renault as opposed to Red Bull Racing because he may have believed that he would have played a support role to the 20-year-old Dutchman and that he simply did not want to do so certainly may hold some water.

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Do you agree with Christian Horner that Max Verstappen is a key reason why Daniel Ricciardo opted not to re-sign with Red Bull Racing for the 2019 Formula 1 season and instead decided to sign a two-year contract with Renault? If so, do you believe any other factors played a role in Ricciardo’s decision, and if not, what do you believe the key factors in his decision were?

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