Ricciardo was bitter alongside Verstappen at Red Bull: 'It is what it is'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo could have been in a Red Bull Racing car in 2021 and 2022 which would have allowed him to compete for the title. However, the Australian has set aside that missed opportunity and says he no longer thinks about the "what-if" scenario.
Teammate of Verstappen
In 2018, Ricciardo decided that enough was enough. He had completed five years at Red Bull and still hadn't gotten the car to compete for the world title. Red Bull made the switch to engines from Honda for 2019 and Ricciardo didn't quite trust that. In addition, people within the team were leaning more and more towards Max Verstappen.
The Australian decided to take a different route. First, there was the switch to Renault and last year he left for McLaren. Although he is in the best of the rest fight with McLaren, he saw Red Bull grab the world title in 2021 with Verstappen and also compete for the title as a team. In 2022, that will be the case again. However, Ricciardo says he does not think about what could have happened if he had stayed.
Bitter Ricciardo
''I think through doing it for so many years now, and just a bit of wisdom, maturity, and perspective, I don't beat myself up about it anymore,'' Ricciardo says at ESPN about the fact that, as Verstappen's teammate, he might well have been competing for the world title. After all, he left precisely because he did not have the time to wait forever, but patience had just been rewarded.
''I know when I was 27 or 28 I would say in interviews, like, I'm running out of time, I'm not world champion yet. I was a bit bitter about it then. But I've kind of let that element go. In terms of just carrying that, I don't. I never wanted to carry an anger or bitterness, like 'oh man, I should have, could have, would have. It is what it is. You just waste time and energy sulking about that stuff'', concludes the McLaren driver.