According to Motorsport.com, Daniel Ricciardo has finally admitted the truth we have all wondered about for years: he wishes he had stayed at the Red Bull Formula 1 team instead of walking away at the end of the 2018 season.
During his time with Red Bull, the Australian secured seven grand prix victories. But his shock switch to Renault for 2019 left Max Verstappen as the undisputed lead driver at Milton Keynes. That decision set off a wild chain of events. Verstappen went on to dominate the sport with four consecutive world titles starting in 2021, while Ricciardo managed just one more victory—driving for McLaren at Monza in 2021—before his F1 career ultimately came to a close in 2024.
Speaking openly on the Beyond The Grid podcast, the 37-year-old acknowledged that the team genuinely wanted him to remain onboard, and he confessed that hindsight changes everything. Explaining his mindset at the time, he admitted he felt a fear of getting too comfortable and complacent, which triggered an intense desire to try a new challenge. Still, the reality of what he walked away from is not lost on him.
Looking back, Ricciardo conceded that staying would have given him his absolute best chance at fighting for a world championship. While he was careful to avoid claiming he definitively would have beaten Verstappen—noting it would be unfair to suggest such a thing—he firmly believes he was still operating at the peak of his powers in 2018, pointing to his stunning victories like his masterclass at the Monaco Grand Prix and his pole position in Mexico that same year.
That fateful exit proved to be a pivotal turning point, sending his career down a much rougher, winding river. Though he later found his way back into the Red Bull fold as a reserve driver in 2023 and subsequently raced for its second team before being dropped following the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, the ultimate question remains. Call it regret, call it burning curiosity, but the Australian is left wondering how a different choice might have rewritten history.
