Daniel Ricciardo is \u201cgrateful\u201d that Racing Bulls replaced him in late 2024, because it would\u2019ve been difficult to make that call himself.<\/p>\n
From Red Bull to Renault to McLaren, Ricciardo made some difficult decisions during his Formula 1 career. Every one, though, he believed was the right move.<\/p>\n
Daniel Ricciardo reflects on F1 exit decision<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n Having begun his career under the Red Bull<\/a> banner, Ricciardo won seven grands prix as a senior driver but left Red Bull Racing after the 2018 season due to what he perceived as unfair treatment of his new hot-shot teammate Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n He signed with Renault, but even one year into that two -year-deal, had already committed to McLaren. That, though, also didn\u2019t go to plan, and two years into his three-year McLaren deal, Ricciardo left the team.<\/p>\n He returned to Red Bull licking his wounds, with then team boss Christian Horner saying he \u201cdid not recognise\u201d Ricciardo\u2019s driving style with all the \u201cbad habits\u201d the Australian had picked up at McLaren.<\/p>\n But believing in its former driver, Red Bull gave Ricciardo one last chance \u2013 a seat at junior team Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n In the car for eight races, his return hampered by a hand injury at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, he was retained for 2024 before the team realised his time was over.<\/p>\n It was a decision that Red Bull and Racing Bulls made.<\/p>\n More on F1 driver decisions<\/p>\n All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history<\/a><\/p>\n Revealed: The shortest F1 careers this century in the brutal world of Formula 1<\/a><\/p>\n In hindsight, Ricciardo recognises he probably wouldn\u2019t have hit the stop button himself.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, I got let go,\u201d told Ford CEO Jim Farley\u2019s podcast. \u201cThat was the reality at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cI think once that happened, I\u2019d been let go twice in the last two years, and it had also taken a lot out of me.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d put a lot of my soul into it. I was pretty exhausted by it.<\/p>\n \u201cIn reflection, I was grateful that they made the decision for me. I think it would have been hard to be like, \u2018I\u2019m done.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI think I knew I was probably done because I knew it was harder for me to perform at the level I could,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor whatever reason, I lost a little bit of something, and it\u2019s okay to admit it.\u201d<\/p>\n Walking out of the Singapore paddock that night, the last driver to leave, Ricciardo conceded that there are some who love you and will tell you to keep pushing, but that at some point you have to be honest with yourself.<\/p>\n He was honest that Sunday night.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s people that love you and will still tell you that you\u2019re great and you can do it, but as much as you love them as well, you need to just close the door and make that decision on your own and be really honest with yourself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I would have got to the end of last year, I think I would have still had a lot of these thoughts and had had the conversation with myself, because I knew it was becoming harder for me, and I had to dig really deep to pull out a result that I was proud of.<\/p>\n \u201cYou always want to believe everyone\u2019s looking out for you, and they probably still are, but they don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to be you and in your situation.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year, my retirement year, I gave myself a lot of time to just reflect on my career and to be at peace with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n