{"id":945371,"date":"2026-10-29T16:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T16:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945371\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T16:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T16:58:10","slug":"red-bull-regret-world-title-opportunity-lost-daniel-ricciardos-honest-admission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945371\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull regret? World title opportunity lost? Daniel Ricciardo’s honest admission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Ricciardo stopped short of claiming he would have won an F1 world title with Red Bull<\/a>, acknowledging that he would have had to beat Max Verstappen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, he wishes that he had stayed around to find out if he could.<\/p>\n

Daniel Ricciardo admits leaving Red Bull was a pivotal F1 career decision<\/p>\n

A Red Bull junior, Ricciardo made his Formula 1 debut in 2011 with HRT, replacing Narain Karthikeyan for the final 11 races of the season.<\/p>\n

After two full seasons with Red Bull\u2019s junior team, Toro Rosso, he was promoted to the senior team and beat reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel in their season together as teammates.<\/p>\n

Daniil Kvyat replaced the Ferrari-bound Vettel in 2015, but his time with Red Bull Racing was short-lived, with Verstappen<\/a> parachuted in at race five of the 2016 season, the Spanish GP. The Dutchman won on his Red Bull debut.<\/p>\n

As Verstappen\u2019s stature within the team grew, the rivalry between the teammates intensified. Their feud exploded during the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where they swapped positions several times before colliding on Lap 40.<\/p>\n

Although Ricciardo was offered a one-year contract extension for the 2019 season, he decided to leave Red Bull to switch to Renault. He spent two years with the team before moving to McLaren. <\/p>\n

While Verstappen went on to become a four-time world champion, Ricciardo never again reached the heights he had enjoyed at Red Bull.<\/p>\n

He added just one victory during his four years away from Red Bull before returning to the fold for his final two seasons in Formula 1.<\/p>\n

But does he regret leaving Red Bull, and does he believe he would have won an F1 world title had he stayed? <\/p>\n

\u201cI still don\u2019t really know how to answer it,\u201d he told the Beyond the Grid podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely don\u2019t want to say, \u2018Oh yeah, I would have been world champion if I stayed\u2019 because I think it\u2019s not a reality that was lived.<\/p>\n

\u201cMax has gone on to prove that he is one of the best ever, so I don\u2019t want to dismiss that as well and be like, \u2018Yeah, I would have beat Max and become world champion\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t have been an easy task, but I think it\u2019s also maybe a bit unfair towards him to say that \u2014 obviously I respect him a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI acknowledge definitely that it was a decision that was\u2026 I mean, if I tell you, everything that went on, it was wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIf I\u2019m to answer it shortly, yes. I guess I wish I would have stayed, right? I say I guess that doesn\u2019t sound convincing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I would have stayed, but I don\u2019t know. I also know at the time I left because I felt I was getting a bit comfortable, a bit complacent. I think there was a desire to try something else. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s not that black and white. But if I could have been a world champion? Yes. Was that my best opportunity? Yeah, absolutely. I would have loved to have known the reality, like another reality of if I stayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to say it haunts me, but it\u2019s the one like unknown that I\u2019m so interested how that would have panned out, but again, I\u2019ve said it before, there\u2019s also reality where Max just kept getting better and kept getting momentum. <\/p>\n

\u201cWould I have kept lifting? It\u2019s hard to say. But for sure at that time I felt very able. Obviously I won some races that 2018 year, and I got a pole. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was still very capable. I\u2019m not doubting my abilities to have kept competing with Max, but it\u2019s a hard one.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on Daniel Ricciardo<\/p>\n

Daniel Ricciardo admits Red Bull F1 exit was a blessing despite humiliation<\/a><\/p>\n

The 10 best F1 drivers never to have won the World Championship<\/a><\/p>\n

Ricciardo\u2019s move to Renault, which had supplied Red Bull\u2019s power units and operated its own works team, failed to deliver the results the Honey Badger had expected. Neither did his move to McLaren.<\/p>\n

He concedes that the moment when he decided to leave Red Bull was a critical juncture in his F1 career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that from that point on my career took some\u2026 The river was a little windy and rough. So yeah, that was a pivotal moment for sure,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if I could relive it again, would I stay, and am I absolutely curious about what would have happened? Yes, the answer is yes. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo if you want to call it regret or curiosity or whatever, then I will say yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read next: \u2018Tasteless\u2019 \u2013 Christian Horner warned he is tarnishing his Red Bull legacy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniel Ricciardo stopped short of claiming he would have won an F1 world title with Red Bull, acknowledging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,827,817,813,816,818,44,918,85],"class_list":["post-945371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-red-bull","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}