Daniel Ricciardo discloses that his departure from Red Bull was influenced by his experience in Baku.
Given a close-up view of the Alpine crash in Monaco, it reminded Daniel Ricciardo of his clash with Max Verstappen in Baku where the tension built until it ended with a “not happy” team.
Alpine team boss Bruno Famin publicly criticized Esteban Ocon following his misguided attempt to overtake his teammate Pierre Gasly, resulting in a collision that caused Ocon to go airborne and retire from the race.
Daniel Ricciardo would go on to cite Baku as one of his reasons for leaving Red Bull
Additional reporting by Sam Cooper
Ocon made a daring move by maneuvering inside of Gasly at Portier. Unfortunately, their wheels made contact, causing Ocon’s A524 to be lifted into the air and landing with a heavy impact.
He made it back to the pits where despite a red flag stoppage for Sergio Perez and the Haas team-mates huge crash, Alpine had to retire his car as it was too badly damaged for him to take the restart.
Famin made a commitment to “consequences” and “action” and was later seen engaging in a conversation with Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan.
Ricciardo was reminded of unpleasant memories by the clash.
In the Azerbaijan Grand Prix of 2018, Ricciardo and Verstappen engaged in a fierce battle for position, resulting in two instances of their wheels colliding. The intensity of their rivalry heightened as the race progressed.
The race took a tragic turn when Ricciardo collided with Verstappen from behind during his attempt to overtake his teammate into Turn One, resulting in both drivers retiring from the race.
The Red Bull supervisors were furious and demanded that the teammates apologize to the team at the factory.
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“He stated to the media, including PlanetF1.com, that it was a close call. Lance Stroll was notably nearer, allowing me some extra moments to respond.”
“Wow, I can’t believe it, the wheels must have made contact at least three times before that, or maybe even more, including that incident.”
“To be honest, it brought back memories of Baku 2018, where Max and I had a couple of incidents before the accident, if I recall correctly, two or three times.”
Clearly, the first lap was completed much faster, but I could sense the tension building rapidly. There were moments where I thought, “Okay, this is getting intense,” and sometimes, being with teammates only added fuel to the fire.
Upon witnessing the event, I was not taken aback as it seemed evident that none of them were willing to back down; instead, they appeared to be engaged in a relentless display of dominance.
“I have no doubt that the team is not… I am well aware of how things typically unfold, so I am confident that they are not pleased.”
In his explanation, Ricciardo highlighted that the Baku collision heavily influenced his choice to depart from Red Bull and join Renault in 2019.
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