Daniel Ricciardo insists he wasn’t ‘running’ from Max Verstappen when he left Red Bull

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Daniel Ricciardo has rejected the narrative that he left Red Bull’s Formula 1 team because he was afraid of Max Verstappen. Ricciardo’s 2018 exit is one of the most surprising decisions in the sport’s recent history.

Ricciardo won seven Grands Prix and scored 29 podiums across his five seasons at Red Bull, finishing in the championship top three twice, but he joined a Renault team that was still running in the midfield.

The Australian banked on the French manufacturer becoming one of the F1 elite, a gamble that backfired. An ill-fated move to McLaren followed, and Ricciardo’s career petered out in two stints at AlphaTauri/Racing Bulls.

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Daniel Ricciardo says team dynamic – not fear – motivated Red Bull exit

Ricciardo remains the only driver to outscore Verstappen over a full season in the same car. He did so in 2017, though his teammate was only 19/20 at that time.

In 2018, Verstappen started to assert himself, outscoring Ricciardo by nearly 80 points (249 vs 170) and delivering 11 of Red Bull’s 13 podiums.

Speaking to The Athletic, Ricciardo acknowledges that Verstappen would have been ‘extremely hard to beat’ had he stayed. But he didn’t leave out of fear; instead, he was concerned that the team were starting to prioritise the Dutchman.

Asked whether he’d change anything in his career, he said: “The most obvious ‘what if?’ or whatever, especially for people on the outside is, ‘OK, what if you stayed at Red Bull after 2018?’

• READ MORE: Christian Horner pinpoints the main reason Daniel Ricciardo never won a championship at Red Bull

“That’s one where I’m like, I don’t know — I don’t know if that was the right decision. Certainly, there was a bit of emotion in that, but there were reasons I didn’t think it was going to work.

“There’s also a scenario where Max just obliterated me as the years went on, and maybe my career ended even quicker. I don’t know. At the time, I was competitive with Max, and we were pushing each other really well.

“It’s just hard. I’m like, sure, maybe I would have still won more races than I ended up winning. But I can’t deny that Max is… Max.

“At the time, some of the narrative was all like, ‘Am I kind of running from the fight?’ I don’t think I was running from the fight. I was just concerned with how things were going to go moving forward. I was more concerned about the team dynamic more than running from a fight.

“But am I denying that Max would have been extremely hard to beat? Absolutely not. But I’m curious how that would have turned out. I don’t know if I’d go as far as saying (that’s) a regret, but it remains a curiosity.”

Christian Horner accused Daniel Ricciardo of fearing Max Verstappen

Speaking on Drive to Survive at the time, former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said of Ricciardo’s move: “My assumption is that he’s running from a fight.”

He was clearly the main proponent of the aforementioned ‘narrative’, but it wasn’t as if losing Ricciardo helped Red Bull either.

His replacement, Pierre Gasly, lasted just half a season, launching a second-driver crisis at Red Bull that remains unsolved. Even though Sergio Perez kept the seat for four years, he never really found the same consistency as prime Ricciardo.

Laurent Mekies is confident in Isack Hadjar, the latest driver to take on the dreaded challenge, but similar excitement has greeted previous signings.

Ultimately, there were no winners from Ricciardo’s departure, and it is undoubtedly intriguing to consider what would have happened if he had stayed.