We don’t know if Red Bull Grand Poohbah Christian Horner is bitter and twisted, we have never met the man. We do know he is metaphorically twisted, or rather likes to twist the knife. From time to time. For whatever reason is unknown. Mind games perhaps? Whatever drives Christian Horner certainly is a mystery. In the lead up to the Australian Grand Prix Horner decided to turn much of Australia against him and create a self-inflicted hostile environment for the Red Bull brand by simply opening his mouth which often pours out the equivalent of liquid cement if not permanently sealed.

Speaking to an Australian news site, Horner believes Ricciardo made a mistake by leaving the Red Bull family.

Christian Horner, Bitter & Twisted, said:

“His timing [Daniel Ricciardo] was spectacularly bad because obviously, he had doubts about the Honda engine. Honda went on to prove it was a competitive power unit and a race-winning package.’’

“Daniel could see Max in the ascendancy and he didn’t want to become the second driver.”

It’s odd for Horner to be dwelling on the past, after all, Ricciardo vacated Red Bull at the end of the  2018 season. For better or for worse, Ricciardo made his decision based on his needs. And he needed to leave Red Bull.

Formula One is a moving target, it is a system and when a driver leaves a team he is replaced. A new generation replaces the old. It is the natural order of all things and if change did not occur then, technically speaking, Martin Brundle would still be driving in F1. Albeit not competing.

Ricciardo swiped away Horner’s assertions with ease. He spoke to the media as he arrived for his home Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo said:

“There are a lot of things internally in the team so it’s not just ‘the car is fast, you should have stayed’.”

“…at the time I felt like leaving the team [Red Bull] was the right thing for me. It’s not something I look back on and regret or think I should have done differently.” 

“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.”