Horner claims Marko wanted Ricciardo out of RB seat after Spanish GP

Christian Horner has opened up on the decision to replace Daniel Ricciardo for the remainder of the 2024 season, suggesting that RB’s driver switch could have come much earlier if he had not done “my very best” to buy the Australian time.

Ricciardo faced a host of questions over his future at the recent Singapore Grand Prix and, a few days on from the event, it was confirmed that Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson will step up to take his spot at the final six rounds.

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Asked on the F1 Nation podcast why the driver change came now, rather than letting Ricciardo see out the campaign, Red Bull Team Principal Horner said: “Of course, in a perfect world, that would have been what we would have done.

“From a broader perspective, we need answers for the bigger picture in terms of drivers. With six races remaining, it’s the perfect opportunity to line Liam up alongside Yuki [Tsunoda] to see how he performs.”

Pushed on the "bigger picture", and whether this covers only RB or Red Bull’s plans as well, Horner continued: “No, this goes beyond [RB]. It encompasses Red Bull Racing. Obviously, we’ve got a contract with Sergio [Perez] 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? Or will one of the other juniors step up in the fullness of time, whether it’s [F2 driver] Isack Hadjar or [F3 driver] Arvid Lindblad?”

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Horner went on to pinpoint a “lack of consistency” as the main reason behind Ricciardo losing his seat, with little for the 35-year-old to celebrate beyond P4 in Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint in Miami, and a run to Q3 and the points in Canada.

“He started the season roughly, then Miami was a weekend of two halves,” Horner said. “The Friday and Saturday morning was fantastic, it looked like the Daniel of old defending against Ferraris, outdriving the car. But then the Saturday afternoon and the Sunday were disastrous.

“Even around [June’s Spanish Grand Prix weekend at] Barcelona, Helmut [Marko, Red Bull advisor] wanted him out of the car. There was already a lot of pressure on him there.”

Ricciardo stated on several occasions that it was his “dream” to return to the senior Red Bull team, having claimed seven of his eight Grand Prix wins with them, but Horner also took a moment to emphasise why that was not an option despite Perez’s own struggles.

“I’ve done my very best to buy him as much time in the car to allow him to deliver,” he said of Ricciardo’s RB stint. “Otherwise, he would have been out of the car after Barcelona.

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“I think 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. Obviously 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’.”

Listen to the full interview on the audio player below or by clicking here to listen via your preferred podcasting provider.