Ricciardo dismisses Red Bull accusation of 'running' from Verstappen

Daniel Ricciardo has denied he is "running from a fight" with Max Verstappen in 2019. Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, made the claim in the new Netflix series Drive to Survive, when contemplating the reason Ricciardo fled to Renault.

"My assumption is that he is running from a fight," Horner said.

Ricciardo maintained when the decision had been made public that his move to Renault was down to wanting a "change of scenery", although Verstappen too poured scorn on that last year by saying: "He could have chosen better scenery."

But the Australian says his former teammate never crossed his mind when he was making his decision to depart Red Bull after a decade under their guidance and five years on the senior team.

"I obviously say no, not true - I love a good fight," he told EFTM.

65 laps & some pitstop practices later, @danielricciardo is a happy man with another solid afternoon in the car.#RSspirit pic.twitter.com/qlj3AeqHjJ — Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) February 28, 2019

"It's more about me than Max and a lot of [other] reasons", Ricciardo said, explaining that he feared becoming frustrated by yet another passing year at Red Bull without a title.

"We never really got close. I'm not bitter about it, it's just the reality.

"It wasn't about Max, I can understand why they'd say that but it's wrong."

But Ricciardo admits that, at least this year, he will be behind Red Bull.

"As you know, the gap to the top three is big so it's not going to happen overnight," he said.

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