Christian Horner privately believed 8-time winner ‘nearly destroyed’ his career by leaving Red Bull

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Racing for Red Bull has never been an easy job given the huge expectations they place on their drivers.

Not only that, driving alongside either Sebastian Vettel or Max Verstappen appears to be a nearly impossible task.

A report from ESPN has shared Christian Horner’s thoughts on when one of his preferred drivers ended up leaving the team.

Red Bull still feel like one of the newer teams on the grid even though they first lined up on the grid in 2005 with David Coulthard, Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Twenty seasons later they’re now the team to beat but that’s created a level of pressure that many drivers simply couldn’t cope with.

The likes of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have gone on to have brilliant Formula 1 careers despite failing to make the grade at Red Bull.

However, Christian Horner believed that Daniel Ricciardo nearly destroyed his career when he chose to move on in 2018.

Since then, the Australian hasn’t had the best time in Formula 1 and is currently the most under-pressure driver in the paddock.

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Horner privately believed Ricciardo nearly destroyed his career by leaving Red Bull

There have been three main driver combinations that have defined Red Bull’s time in Formula 1.

The first and arguably their strongest were Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Although the German won all four titles between them, he could always rely on Webber being close behind during an era of F1 where their rivals were closer than they have been in recent years.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are their next-longest serving pairing and they finally achieved their desired one-two in the Drivers’ Championship last year.

The other iconic pairing was Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian helping guide his younger teammate through his first three seasons driving for a top team.

Red Bull were challenging for race wins during that time but nowhere near the level they’re at now.

Eventually, Ricciardo chose to move on when he recognised the direction the team was going in by backing Verstappen, but Horner was worried that would destroy his career.

Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case, although it’s hard to argue he wouldn’t have had more success if he’d stayed put.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Daniel Ricciardo had to make a career-defining choice in 2018

Christian Horner initially thought Ricciardo was joking when he told him he would be leaving the team for the 2019 season.

Ricciardo had accepted an offer from Renault at ESPN believes that Horner ‘privately maintained’ that the Australian was ‘nearly destroyed’ his career by making that choice.

The 34-year-old was also held in high regard by co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz and sources told ESPN have Horner believes Ricciardo and Verstappen could still be teammates now should he have decided not to move on.

Ricciardo achieved two podiums in two years at Renault before joining McLaren where he was shown up by young teammate Lando Norris.

He did achieve the team’s last win in 2021 at Monza but was replaced for the 2023 season by fellow countryman Oscar Piastri.

Piastri has since proved that that was the right choice after a stunning rookie campaign.

Horner’s belief in Ricciardo was shown again last year when he had a big hand in the call that saw him replace Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri after the Dutchman destroyed his F1 career in the space of 10 races.

Unfortunately, he’s been shown up by Yuki Tsunoda this season and his dream of racing for Red Bull one last time seems a long way away at the moment…