Ricciardo victim of ongoing power struggle at Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo owes his return to Formula 1 to Christian Horner. The Red Bull Racing team principal loves the Australian and keeps very fond memories of their time together at Red Bull Racing. During that time, Ricciardo won seven Grands Prix and impressed especially with his spectacular overtaking skills.

However, Ricciardo left Red Bull Racing at the end of 2018. To the surprise of everyone within the team, Ricciardo opted for Renault and not the contract Red Bull had presented. The bag of money from Renault helped, but Ricciardo also noticed that Max Verstappen was starting to win the battle within the team.

Ricciardo hurts Red Bull with departure

Helmut Marko never understood the departure. Christian Horner did not understand it at the time either, but has forgiven his pupil. Ricciardo still drove well at Renault, resulting in two podium finishes, but the switch to McLaren turned out all wrong. Ricciardo was broken in the duel with Lando Norris and, after two years, his ongoing contract was bought off by the British team.

Horner watched it with sorrow and offered his star driver a chance to return within the Red Bull Racing organisation. Initially as a third driver and mainly in a marketing role. When Ricciardo regained his appetite for racing, Horner was quick to put the Australian in a Red Bull.

That famous test at Silverstone was so good that Nyck de Vries was immediately let go from AlphaTauri. De Vries was a temporary solution in the first place, given that no talent broke through from the Red Bull Junior Team. Ricciardo was thus given the chance to show what he could still do, with the hope of securing a seat at Red Bull Racing in 2024 or 2025.

2024 could soon be binned, when Ricciardo broke his metacarpal at Zandvoort. That left Ricciardo out for another couple of races, and his replacement Liam Lawson shone during the five races he drove. Ricciardo got his seat back after the injury, but outside of a strong performance in Mexico, Ricciardo did not make a big impression.

Who will make the decision at Red Bull?

At the end of 2023, Marko would have preferred to intervene already. As head of the Red Bull Junior Team, he had seen enough of Ricciardo. The latter was no longer going to force a seat at Red Bull Racing and so it was time for Lawson. However, Ricciardo was put back in that car anyway, alongside the team's actual leader Yuki Tsunoda.

With an entire winter's preparation, Ricciardo should have been there in 2024, but that is not the case. At his age and with his experience, Marko has a good point that the Australian should actually be two, three tenths faster than Tsunoda. The opposite is true. Tsunoda is faster in qualifying and has also already scored more points than Ricciardo. Above all, Tsunoda is more consistent in his performance than Ricciardo.

Whereas in the past Marko, as Dietrich Mateschitz's right-hand man, decided who sat in which car, this is no longer the case since Mateschitz's death. Mateschitz did have full control in terms of sporting decisions despite a 49% stake in Red Bull, but with his death, that right has disappeared. This leaves Chalerm Yoovidhya, the major shareholder in Thailand, in charge. The latter is fully behind Horner, and so has the power.

Marko will have had reservations about a contract extension for Sergio Perez, but his contract extension does strengthen Marko's position when it comes to Lawson. With a new deal for Perez, a seat for Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing in 2025 and probably 2026 is not possible. So why should he be allowed to occupy a seat with the junior team at his age.

The final decision will say a lot about Red Bull's future. Mateschitz founded Formula 1 teams to give young talent a chance. That has already been lacking in recent years with Sergio Perez, Nyck de Vries and Daniel Ricciardo. Sticking with Ricciardo and thus showing Lawson the door, so completely goes against the policy pursued under Mateschitz.