Horner details Ricciardo's departure in 2018: 'Stop the nonsense'

Max Verstappen signed a contract in 2017 until the end of 2020 after his victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo only had a contract until 2018 and was also keen to sign a new one. Not such a problem in itself, they thought at Red Bull Racing.

"He [Ricciardo] suddenly felt that, hang on, I don't want to be the support act. And I could tell he was starting to think of giving up the position at the time. He got a lot of noise in his ear at this time," Horner said. "I remember I spoke to our owner [Dietrich Mateschitz] before the Austrian Grand Prix I said, look, he's talking a big margin (between Verstappen's new salary and Ricciardo's current salary). I think if you could just balance things out, just let him know that you want him."

Same salary as Verstappen

Horner was keen to keep Ricciardo, and Mateschitz was also keen on a longer stay for the Perth-based driver. Mateschitz was willing to offer Ricciardo the same deal as Verstappen. "his agent was, oh, it's fine. That was for two years," Horner said. "Then we went off to Germany to the race. His engine blew up because the big issue was the engine at that time. The engine kept letting him down. Then from there, we went to Hungary. We bought all the paperwork and put it out. Then his manager came to me and said, 'Daniel is really nervous about the engine situation because we were going to change to Honda. He'll do one year'."

That fell hard on Red Bull for a while, but Horner was willing to cooperate. "I went back to the Dietrich. He said, look, it's about relationships. It's not about contracts. If he wants a year, give him a year. So at this point, he's got everything he needed. Everything he needed." After a test after the end of the Hungarian GP, they were supposed to sign, but that signature failed to materialise. Horner smelt danger. "I would have thought he'd be in a rush to sign this contract. He didn't sign it before he got in the car in the morning. Then he's going to sign it at lunchtime. That didn't happen. And then he had to get out of the car and go straight to the airport."

No Red Bull after all

It was agreed with Ricciardo's agent that a call would be made once the Australian had arrived in the United States. "I'm smelling a rat. So he rings me. And I was in the car. I was very confused. He said, I've just got off the plane. I've arrived. I've been thinking all flight over here. And I'm not going to sign the contract. I'm going to take another contract. I was like, what? OK, you've got a Mercedes deal? Ferrari have come through or something? And he went, no, I'm going to sign for Renault," the Red Bull team boss was surprised.

"[He's going to] the engine that's just let him down for the last two years. I was convinced he was taking the piss because Daniel, he's got a sense of humour. I was like, come on. There's no way, stop f****** about. But no, that didn't happen." Ricciardo left for the French team.