Ricciardo hits back at Horner 'stratospheric offer' claim

Daniel Ricciardo has responded to Christian Horner's criticism of the Australian's "spectacularly bad" timing of his decision to leave Red Bull.

After five years with Red Bull, Ricciardo departed at the end of the 2018 season and spent two years with Renault before switching to McLaren in 2021.

In a recent interview, Horner revealed Ricciardo had turned down a "stratospheric" offer to remain as Max Verstappen's team-mate due to doubts over the team's switch to a Honda power unit and the fact he did not want to become a number two driver.

Responding to his former team principal's remarks, Ricciardo told the Herald Sun: “Obviously, I would love to win a title with McLaren and then kind of say ‘I told you so’ or whatever.

"But I appreciate until that happens then there will probably be that narrative with a lot of people.

“That’s okay, it doesn’t bother me. I also knew that it was going to come with the territory of leaving a big team and obviously at the time I felt like that was the right thing for me.

“You kind of stand by that and it really did feel like the right thing."

Ricciardo holds 'no regrets' over Red Bull exit

In the third season after Ricciardo's departure, Red Bull delivered Max Verstappen a car with which he was able to clinch his maiden F1 title.

Despite this, the McLaren driver maintains he did what he felt was right at the time.

“It’s not something I look back on and regret or think I should have done differently," added Ricciardo.

"But I guess as well now Red Bull are back on top or fighting again for the world titles, I knew that would come around as well.

“There are also a lot of things internally in the team so it’s not just [about] ‘the car is fast, you should have stayed'."

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