{"id":295958,"date":"2023-11-09T10:25:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T10:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=295958"},"modified":"2023-11-09T10:25:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T10:25:12","slug":"christian-horner-reveals-the-moment-daniel-ricciardo-apologised-to-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/racing\/f1\/christian-horner-reveals-the-moment-daniel-ricciardo-apologised-to-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Horner reveals the moment Daniel Ricciardo apologised to him"},"content":{"rendered":"
Daniel Ricciardo called Red Bull boss Christian Horner to apologise for leaving the team for pastures new, the team principle has revealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ricciardo, 34, left the constructors in 2018, with tensions rife over the driver hierarchy due to apparent preferential treatment towards the up-and-coming Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n
The Aussie went on to join Renault, where he enjoyed mixed success, before a dire spell at McLaren which saw his contract ripped up a year early.<\/p>\n
Ricciardo returned to Red Bull as a ‘reserve driver’ at the start of the year, before taking the seat vacated by Nyck de Vries at Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
He has been linked with a return to the constructors champions for 2024, with pressure mounting on Sergio Perez, in what would represent a full circle moment for Ricciardo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Christian Horner has revealed how Daniel Ricciardo apologised to him for leaving Red Bull<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ricciardo left the all-conquering team to be a big fish in a small pond back in 2018<\/p>\n
And Horner has explained how a regretful Ricciardo called him during the Covid pandemic to admit he was wrong to walk out on the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I think he recognised that he made a mistake. He had no good advice around him at the point that he left us,’ Horner said on Dax Shepard’s Eff Won podcast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Having spent a few years outside of the family he suddenly realised that, ‘Whoa, actually what I had was really good’.<\/p>\n
‘Actually it was during the pandemic, I remember he called me and he said, ‘Christian, I hate to say this to you, but you were absolutely right, and I apologise’ and so on.’ Horner did not specify when exactly the phone call occurred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Horner added that Ricciardo was badly advised when he made the move to Enstone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But he is on the verge of a Red Bull return after rekindling his relationship with Horner<\/p>\n
‘There was an element of [spite] at the time, thinking, ‘You know what? Okay. Go and suck on the lemon for a bit’,’ Horner said. ‘He was very badly advised in his earlier career. Everybody f***s up at some point.<\/p>\n
‘We gave Max a contract at the beginning of that year in 2018 to secure his future. Daniel, I remember being upset at the time. He suddenly felt that, ‘Hang on, I don’t want to be the support act here’.<\/p>\n
‘I could tell he was starting to think of being a bigger fish in a smaller pond. He got a lot of noise in his ear that this is the Max show. Money (from Renault) was also on the table.’\u00a0<\/p>\n