Christian Horner names ‘disastrous’ race that nearly cost Daniel Ricciardo his seat long before RB axe

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Daniel Ricciardo has likely contested his last race with Red Bull in Formula 1 after it was announced that Liam Lawson will replace him for the final six races of the 2024 season.

The future of Daniel Ricciardo has been the subject of much speculation after the Australian came under increased pressure to improve his results amid the backdrop of Lawson’s contract situation at Red Bull.

Ricciardo has been consistently outclassed by teammate Yuki Tsunoda, with the Japanese driver outqualifying his experienced counterpart by 12-6 throughout the season. Things do not fare better for Ricciardo in race results, with Tsunoda finishing ahead 9-8 by the end of their tenure.

Haas is just three points off Visa CashApp RB in the Constructors’ Championship and the switch to Lawson makes sense if the team wants to defend its sixth place, which could be worth millions more in prize money at the end of the season.

While RB faced opposition from Visa and CashApp to get rid of Ricciardo, the team was already contemplating giving him the axe after a ‘disastrous’ weekend according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner speaking on the F1 Nation podcast.

Daniel Ricciardo’s ‘disastrous’ Miami Grand Prix nearly cost him his seat

Horner said Ricciardo’s performance over the Miami Grand Prix led to some in Red Bull wanting to replace him as early as the Spanish GP, after an inconsistent weekend for the Australian.

Ricciardo had started off the Miami GP weekend with a strong fourth-place finish in the Sprint on Saturday, but things quickly took a turn when a poor qualifying session led to a 15th place in the race on Sunday.

“It was the lack of consistency. He started the season roughly and then Miami was a weekend of two halves,” said Horner.

“The Friday and Saturday morning was fantastic and it looked like the Daniel of old defending against Ferraris and out driving the car. But then the Saturday afternoon and the Sunday were disastrous.

“Even around Barcelona, Helmut wanted him out of the car. And there was already a lot of pressure on him there.”

The crash that cost Daniel Ricciardo’s ‘goodwill’ behind the scenes at Red Bull

Ricciardo was seen as a good commercial option for Red Bull after losing his drive in McLaren at the end of 2022. After participating in a test for Red Bull, Horner believed he was a better option than the underperforming Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.

But after just two races in Hungary and Belgium which yielded varying results, Ricciardo sustained an injury after a freak accident during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.

READ MORE: The Red Bull offer Daniel Ricciardo rejected before Liam Lawson replaced him at RB

After getting distracted by Oscar Piastri’s stricken McLaren following a crash at Turn 3, he locked up and slid into the tyre wall. The impact caused the steering wheel to ricochet back and hit his hand, breaking his metacarpal.

He spent the next five races on the sidelines as Lawson replaced him, and Ricciardo effectively sapped any of the ‘momentum’ and ‘goodwill’ he had at Red Bull with the crash.