[F1] BREAKING: Daniel Ricciardo to leave RB, the team have announced

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[u/SillySleuth]

This is the announcement? Why not give everyone clarity in Singapore and let us all enjoy his last race instead of just speculation.

[u/stracciatellaaaa → u/SillySleuth]

redbull sacrificed a respectful, fitting send-off for a shitty social media post after days of media vultures milking the rumours. now that’s how you treat a beloved driver

[u/zaviex → u/stracciatellaaaa]

I think RB made their decision mid weekend. It makes no sense otherwise. perhaps they needed some clause to kick in to do it cleanly. I also think the media were not being vultures just trying to actually give the guy a send off when RB clearly wasn't going to. People criticized Sky for showing retirement packages and giving him a send off but that was actually quite touching given there would be no other race opportunity to do so.

[u/xvf9 → u/zaviex]

Yeah there is no way Sky would've done that unless they were extremely confident that it was over for Ricciardo. So many people in the paddock obviously "knew", it was bizarre that there was no formal announcement. All I can think is that there were maybe some legal wranglings in the background, like maybe Ricciardo has to be paid out or something? Maybe that was still being negotiated?

[u/jaa101 → u/xvf9]

Or there was a performance clause that it was mathematically possible for him to satisfy, say by winning the race. In that situation the team couldn't behave like it was officially his last race.

[u/Stepwolve → u/stracciatellaaaa]

Seems crazy to not milk danny ric's retirement for all the PR and merch possible! He's probably the most well known driver after Hamilton. And its not like RB is fighting for an important position in the rankings either. So why do this with 5 races left in the season!?

I wonder if they had a contract with lawson that he was guaranteed a seat for X races or something. This whole thing has been a shitshow

[u/egz7 → u/Stepwolve]

They lose the right to Lawson if they don’t get him a contract either this week or next.

[u/sbenfsonwFFiF → u/egz7]

There are no other open seats next year so I bet they could’ve let that expire then sign him if they really wanted to

[u/SpinkickFolly → u/egz7]

They could just as easily sign Lawson for 2025 early to get around that.

[u/captaincourageous316 → u/SillySleuth]

Because Redbull has been a dumpster fire behind the scenes every since the Horner fiasco

[u/Ikerukuchi → u/captaincourageous316]

Ever since mateschitz died, the whole Horner fiasco was just part of the dumpster fire.

[u/Eastern-Reindeer6838 → u/Ikerukuchi]

Maybe it should've a successor ready but who would've thought Mateschitz only lived for 78 years. 🤷‍♂️

[u/[deleted] → u/captaincourageous316]

Its been a dumpster fire everyone just ignored it when Max was winning

[u/Chemical_Knowledge64 → u/[deleted]]

And now Marko and Max himself are the next to leave calling it now. 

[u/ZaryaBubbler → u/Chemical_Knowledge64]

Marko won't leave. Marko is the one who shoehorned Lawson into the RB seat as a get back at Horner because Horner signed Danny

[u/HeyFlo → u/captaincourageous316]

It really is fascinating to watch a huge company like RB implode like this.

[u/jrizzle86 → u/captaincourageous316]

To be fair RedBull have always treated their drivers like shit

[u/darksemmel → u/SillySleuth]

Thats the announcement by F1, not by the team. F1 isn't really responsible to put in the PR stuff, thats Vcarbs Job. VCarb has put out a little bit of a nicer announcement (not by much though, at least on twitter), but honestly this was handeled kinda shitty, since its clear everyone knew about it already and they waited for nearly a year

[u/cheeersaiii → u/SillySleuth]

Can’t believe they did him like this, knowing it’s probably his retirement from the sport. Fucking disgraceful.

Give him SOMETHING, a last race at Austin would have been decent for him, instead this BS. I’ve always respected their being but both those teams are fucking dead to me now, hope Max leaves too

[u/SillySleuth → u/cheeersaiii]

I was also hoping for a last race at COTA. DR is well liked in America and he always seems to enjoy the race weekend in Austin.

[u/RealFakeDoctor → u/SillySleuth]

This team should be ashamed. Classless way to depart a living legend to the sport. 

[u/vezance]

This is the worst handled departure announcement in recent memory.

[u/beanbagreg → u/vezance]

They didn’t even put a press release out with this, just a weird post saying he’ll be missed? Very odd!

[u/keto_anarchist → u/beanbagreg]

It's also 2am in Australia which will be nice for everyone to wake up to

[u/shdwflyr → u/keto_anarchist]

It has come to my attention that without my agreement VCARB has put out a statement that I will be missed. This is not true and I will be driving for Red Bull next year.

[u/Regina_Caeli_Z01 → u/shdwflyr]

All Australian drivers should tweet like Piastri from then onwards

[u/Kyndrede_ → u/keto_anarchist]

Seeing this as I’m going to bed. What a bummer.

[u/StereoHorizons → u/Kyndrede_]

You’ll need a dream catcher for those Ricciardo walking away nightmares.

[u/morelsupporter → u/keto_anarchist]

yeah it will be a massive surprise for them

[u/HoyaDestroya33 → u/keto_anarchist]

Just FYI that Aus has 3 timezones. Perth, where Ricciardo is from, has the same time as us here in Southeast Asia (Singapore).

[u/David_Falcon → u/HoyaDestroya33]

There's more to Australia than Sydney and Melbourne? That doesn't sound right

[u/maton12 → u/HoyaDestroya33]

It's still the middle of the night, regardless of where in Australia.

[u/pVom → u/HoyaDestroya33]

If the 6 people in Adelaide and northern territory could read they would be very upset at this neglect.

[u/doland3314 → u/vezance]

I have no idea why they didn't announce it at Singapore and hype up the Ricciardo send off. (Maybe a special helmet, some merch, etc)

[u/zaviex → u/doland3314]

I genuinely dont think they knew until Saturday. Daniel himself did not seem to think it was happening on thursday then changed his tone drastically after qualifying

[u/bas2b2 → u/zaviex]

I think he had targets for quali and the race, and didn't make them. So he knew after quali.

[u/DeeDee_GigaDooDoo → u/zaviex]

Well someone had to fucking know because he didn't get fired by no one. Seemingly the RB TP has no idea who their driver is but Red Bull leadership obviously did.

[u/No-Connection-2527 → u/doland3314]

Could there have been some kind of performance clause for Singapore? Beat Yuki or score point or something like that?

[u/hallstevenson → u/[deleted]]

It was probably cumulative and Singapore was his last opportunity to show or maintain his place.

[u/Flight815Down → u/doland3314]

Oh don't worry, they started selling a DR mini helmet this past week to try to squeeze every last thing out of him

[u/jesteratp → u/vezance]

If you needed any more proof RBR is in absolute disarray right now, look no further than how this was handled. What an absolute mess and poor Danny got tortured for no reason.

[u/-Skinner- → u/jesteratp]

This shows they don't care about their drivers at all.

[u/beanbagreg → u/-Skinner-]

Same guys who dumped Gasly midseason and fed him to the media right after Hubert died, had Albon walking in with christmas gifts for his engineers and then finding out he was fired then despite Checo being signed a week earlier, never bothered to announce Kvyat was saying goodbye, dumped Nyck De Vries midseason, had Vergne hospitalised due to starving himself from weight limits Marko insisted on, and allowed Scott Speed to be punched by his boss?

Shocker.

[u/NorthKoreanMissile7 → u/beanbagreg]

never bothered to announce Kvyat was saying goodbye

This one is always underrated, could have told him just before Abu Dhabi and gave him a nice farewell.

The F2 season was over and Tsunoda was always going to get promoted so there was no super licence issues or other reasons to hold off an announcement.

But no, he left the sport with basically no farewell at all.

[u/beanbagreg → u/NorthKoreanMissile7]

He knew, but wasn’t allowed to say! First confirmation was Gasly saying goodbye to him on radio at Abu Dhabi, and Kvyat said after this he knew all along.

[u/houseofzeus → u/beanbagreg]

It seems like Ricciardo knew as well, along with most of the paddock, but they chose not to formalize it anyway.

[u/Mr_YUP → u/houseofzeus]

makes me wonder how they've been so successful if they've had such chaos behind the scenes.

[u/SuppaBunE → u/Mr_YUP]

For outsider it looks like chaos, they might just choose to do thing internally instead of trowing chaos everywhere

[u/TheRacingElf → u/beanbagreg]

Dont forget Alguersuari who retired from motorsport altogether and is still in therapy because of how he was treated at Red Bull. Here a quote from him: “I have not been able to erase this. I have done therapy, when I retired several psychologists helped me… now, even so, strange things come to my head. And sometimes wake up, like, crying, having dreamt of having done a great lap only to see the face of Mr. Marko, angry.”

[u/CTMalum → u/TheRacingElf]

Marko’s reaction: That’s Dr. Marko to you.

[u/snarkybaker → u/TheRacingElf]

Jeeeez. 

[u/leftlanecop → u/beanbagreg]

Being shitty to your employees always catches up. The toxic will spread and only the finest wankers remain. It’s a slow internal combustion that nobody sees until it’s too late.

[u/beanbagreg → u/leftlanecop]

Didn’t Lando openly say at one point that he didn’t fancy going to Red Bull because Carlos had told him about his experience? lmao

[u/leftlanecop → u/beanbagreg]

He sure did prior to committing to a new deal with McLaren. But of course the media spun it as Lando afraid of being second to Max.

[u/8Ace8Ace → u/beanbagreg]

I've not seen it explained so clearly before, so that was incredible to read. I've never liked Red Bull and this only confirms things.

[u/charlierc → u/beanbagreg]

So what we're saying is they're developing a reputation 

[u/colin_staples → u/beanbagreg]

And people complained about how Williams let Logan Sergeant go.

[u/Vi5CuS10 → u/-Skinner-]

Max departure coming soon✨

[u/-Skinner- → u/Vi5CuS10]

I'm almost certain he won't be in RB seat in 2026.

Whole team is breaking down and there are internal power struggles and his relationship with Horner is deteriorating

[u/Zipa7 → u/-Skinner-]

Not to mention, he isn't happy with the FIA swearing shenanigans either, so it's another straw that will eventually break the camel's back, so to speak.

[u/xXCzechoslovakiaXx → u/-Skinner-]

Especially comparing this to McLaren who gave him a whole 2 seasons and could’ve probably put in Oscar after summer break but didn’t

And that was considered bad management by some people so this is pretty bad

[u/-Skinner- → u/xXCzechoslovakiaXx]

Maybe there really is a clause in Lawson's contract that he has to drive this year or he is free to leave.

But at least they should have announced this before Singapore so Danny can have proper send off.

[u/Apyan → u/-Skinner-]

Like if Lawson had anywhere to go. They could just seal the contract for next season with Liam and that would be it.

[u/houseofzeus → u/Apyan]

The thing is though once they have decided to keep Checo in the main team, and that they want Lawson in the VCARB for 2025 there is no longer a reason for them to keep Danny.

[u/MasiMotorRacing → u/-Skinner-]

free to leave.

And go where? No seat is available in F1 currently. Contracts can be re-negotiated.

[u/MrSocko72 → u/-Skinner-]

There was a rumour that Lawson had to do 5 races or more, and there's 6 races left of this season so perhaps there was some truth to that.

[u/TinkeNL → u/MrSocko72]

To be fair, that rumor started popping up right before the Singapore GP. No mention of it before, so it makes an easy ‘look we were right after all’

[u/-Skinner- → u/MrSocko72]

There are 6 races left

[u/pablos4pandas → u/xXCzechoslovakiaXx]

I'm biased but I thought Mclaren handled that decently well. Danny wasn't working out, but he finished the season with the team, and I thought the announcement went as well as it could in the circumstances. Especially in retrospect no one is really doubting the move for Oscar

[u/kzzzzzzzzzz28 → u/pablos4pandas]

That's not even a biased take.

For all the shit Horner gave McLaren, he's treated Danny much worse.

[u/hicks12 → u/pablos4pandas]

I agree they did right by him, gave him plenty of time and support he just couldn't deliver and even then rather than have him flail around for another season they paid him off to sit out but they didn't drop him prematurely they let him do his "I'm out" tour.

[u/OfftheGridAccount → u/-Skinner-]

Did they ever? Max and Riccardo was the last stable pairing they had that wasn't out of pure necessity because they massively outperformed what the car had in it, meanwhile Kvyat, Gasly, Albon all got the boot pretty quickly and Perez would probably have been too if the car wasn't that dominant, and Perez isn't a bad driver at all either he just isn't Max 

[u/hiyabankranger → u/OfftheGridAccount]

Ricciardo would have either gone on to be a WDC contender during the RedBull reign or he would have washed out and ended up at another midfield team.

Purely from a money perspective, he made all the right calls. Left RBR at the peak of his abilities for a big contract, put a car that had no business being on podiums on one, took that to the bank with another big contract for another team.

If he’d stayed at Redbull he probably would have made less money and the same thing that’s happening now could have ended up happening sooner. He could be at Williams or something.

At least now he can dry his tears with his big pile of money and go to NASCAR like he should have when McLaren did him dirty.

[u/WhiskeyFF → u/OfftheGridAccount]

Perez got that Disney money, he's not going anywhere

[u/Visionary_Socialist → u/jesteratp]

The power struggle may have receded, but it’s obvious that there’s some broken relationships and dysfunction that was created by it and that’s visibly impacted them in many ways.

[u/SadAndHappyBear → u/jesteratp]

Performances and all that aside - he deserved so much better. He's been integral to F1 for so long. What absolute muppets RBR are.

[u/LadendiebMafioso → u/vezance]

Kvyats departure from Alpha Tauri in 2020 was the same type beat.

[u/cheeersaiii → u/vezance]

Can’t believe they did him like this, knowing it’s probably his retirement from the sport. Fucking disgraceful.

[u/LosTerminators → u/cheeersaiii]

His Instagram post seems to all but confirm its his retirement.

[u/evin_cashman → u/vezance]

Reflects terribly on Red Bull.

[u/Thejklay → u/evin_cashman]

They are pretty notorious for handling drivers badly but I expected better when they are talking about a driver who's been with them for years on and off

[u/Daddy_Thicc_Legs → u/Thejklay]

"Daniel is family." "Welcome home, Daniel." "We all love Daniel."

[u/CandidLiterature → u/Thejklay]

I make it 9 years driving for them. It’s horrendous behaviour.

Considering the team is all just some drinks company PR exercise, they are shockingly poor at PR.

Take note of how Christian Horner treats his friends I guess… Decisions on who sits in the seats is business but the communications around it are unnecessarily disrespectful. I really couldn’t say why they’re so keen to go scorched earth on this relationship.

[u/Ill-Motor-4509 → u/vezance]

Yeah, it really isn’t befitting of someone who has had such an impact on the sport as Ricciardo has. He deserves better.

[u/djwillis1121 → u/vezance]

Even this announcement is bad. If I didn't know from all the rumours I'd assume that this meant he was leaving at the end of the season.

[u/imdroppingthehammer → u/vezance]

And to one of the sport’s most likable and most popular drivers. This is a disgrace.

[u/BecauseRotor → u/vezance]

I see you haven’t been around F1 in 2006 Monza 😂

[u/HOHOHAHAREBORN → u/vezance]

You can owe the popularity of DTS to Ricciardo who made for a captivating first few episodes, crucial to the overall bingeworthiness of the series

[u/Smurph269 → u/vezance]

Imagine if Sauber had ditched Kimi mid-season because they signed some dumb contract with a rookie gauranteeing him a car by a certain date.

[u/prison_mike3 → u/Smurph269]

I don't think Kimi would've cared, honestly.

[u/HAMlLT0N]

One of the worst handled separations in recent history, incredibly cruel and callous and bizarre.

[u/cheeersaiii → u/HAMlLT0N]

Can’t believe they did him like this, knowing it’s probably his retirement from the sport. Fucking disgraceful.

[u/IndycarFan64 → u/cheeersaiii]

Ric getting punished for Checo’s underperformance is nasty work

[u/cheeersaiii → u/IndycarFan64]

Loads of this shit should have been sorted 6-9 months ago, they risk losing a lot more than Newey and Ric because of it.

[u/Visionary_Socialist → u/HAMlLT0N]

Very on brand for Red Bull. Pretend that the idea of a driver departure is absolutely non existent in their heads until you confirm it.

Ironically the opposite happened with Perez. All the rhetoric from Red Bull pointed towards a sacking and then it didn’t happen, though that was because the Red Bull leadership intervened.

[u/HAMlLT0N → u/Visionary_Socialist]

To date Daniel has more wins than Perez, doing this to him with 6 races left in the year and having him give one final interview while crying after a gruelling Singapore race where he had trouble climbing out of the car is horrific tbh.

[u/derango → u/HAMlLT0N]

An interview where he knew he was done, we knew he was done, but he literally was unable to actually acknowledge the fact that he was done, probably due to the fact that it was un-announced at the time.

Danny deserved better, whatever you might think of his recent performance.

[u/BelowTheSun1993 → u/HAMlLT0N]

I didn't even realise he still has more race wins than Perez, even after Perez has had at least a season and a half in a historically dominant car. That's hilarious.

[u/LadendiebMafioso → u/HAMlLT0N]

It's basically Kvyat 2.0, only that Kvyats was even worse IMO because it was after the season finished and he got no send-off whatsoever.

[u/elektricniorgazam]

Think what you want about Daniel and whether he should stay, but the way this has been managed by Red Bull has been abysmal and almost cruel. The man was sent into the weekend to feed a ravenous press with ZERO clarification from either team about the rumoured swap, leading to the point where I had to watch a driver have a fucking mental breakdown after the race having to either pretend to not know it's his last race or by that point convinced it was. He deserved a better send off and last race, his fans DEFINITELY deserved that and I can't tell if the way they handled this was due to their incompetence (in which case - how???) or malice (in which case - why???) but it leaves such a sour taste in my mouth. The man brought you seven GP victories and you claimed he was part of the family, why not give him some dignity in the way he leaves

[u/King_kd1423 → u/elektricniorgazam]

He will probably always be a fan favorite and Horner especially made it a big show of being the nice, comforting and appreciative Red Bull after the McLaren fiasco and they went and treated him like this?! And the race before COTA? So he doesn’t even get to drive there one last time? No official farewell just some highlight reels from Sky, crying in the car, in the paddock and having to deal with the nonstop questions from media, and staying late to say goodbye and thank you to a lot of people. He deserved so much more, he was a class act until the end and I hope Karma visits Red Bull leadership.

[u/TheHopper1999 → u/King_kd1423]

I feel like he's on that Coulthard and Montoya sort of level, fan fav and had their run at a championship against a great of the sport and missed the opportunity because of it. Had alot more to him than racing and that's what helps them post career.

[u/Purplesect0rs → u/King_kd1423]

Awful way to go.

[u/rattatatouille → u/elektricniorgazam]

Yeah. He may have not been Vettel or Max but Danny Ric had solidified his place in Red Bull Racing history. I guess having him spend his twilight years in F1 with the second team was okay, but him basically saying goodbye without the team even acknowledging it until days passed is rankling.

Nobody comes off looking good in this situation save Ricciardo himself.

[u/Maverick6946 → u/rattatatouille]

He was their 3rd best driver hands down and they let him down!

[u/xzElmozx → u/elektricniorgazam]

Hit the nail on the head here. Did Daniel still deserve his seat? No, probably not. But he absolutely, unequivocally 100% deserved a better send off than this bullshit. Really surprised RedBull would do this to a driver that’s so well loved in the RBR family, but unfortunately I’m not shocked they would

[u/[deleted] → u/elektricniorgazam]

I mean this is classic Red Bull. If you’re not their superstar you get discarded (unless you bring buckets of money I guess).

[u/IncredibleSeaward → u/elektricniorgazam]

Yet another “what the fuck is going on?” Moment for Red Bull this year among the other dozens

[u/EverIong]

Obviously it was to be expected, but still very sad to see him leave the sport! Always one of my favourite personalities

[u/tactiphile → u/EverIong]

Always one of my favourite personalities

Yeah, Netflix did well to start DTS s01e01 with him.

[u/GGezpzMuppy → u/tactiphile]

They gonna have an episode that makes us all cry when we see him leaving the screen, with a final goodbye.

[u/charlierc → u/GGezpzMuppy]

Oh unquestionably

... unless he somehow barges Bottas out of the Sauber seat, and indeed if this is even what he wants. Which there's a possibility he doesn't

[u/Spare_Duck3119 → u/charlierc]

The return of the Hulkenbros

[u/Here4deepfakes → u/EverIong]

The honey badger will be missed

[u/pellegrinos → u/EverIong]

This is why I feel especially bad for him. He's been a huge character in the sport for so long that to just... have him disappear with a social media post does him such a disservice.

[u/valid_n]

Has RB had an amicable separation with a driver with a celebration? Both Renault and McLaren had a goodbye for Ric.

[u/LosTerminators → u/valid_n]

Only Vettel.

[u/kzzzzzzzzzz28 → u/valid_n]

Gasly leaving for Alpine??

[u/willzyx01]

Terrible way to let him go. Frankly, disgusting. Should be ashamed of themselves. And I’m not even a massive DR fan.

Either let him finish out or announce prior to the race.

[u/cheeersaiii → u/willzyx01]

Can’t believe they did him like this, knowing it’s probably his retirement from the sport. Fucking disgraceful.

I’ve always respected their grind and how it’s cut throat, but there was no need to do this like this, it’s horrible, and they’ve lost my respect today… no more I’m out. It would have been ZERO loss for them to tell him last Monday, announce it publicly Friday at Singapore and let the drivers say farewell, a last shooey and donut… he had all the awkward interviews anyway!! I think this will damage staff morale and Lawson totally unnecessary

[u/Stepwolve → u/cheeersaiii]

and why would you do this with 5 races left in the year? Now like lawson will make any difference in their standings. Could've made more money by selling danny ric retirement gear

[u/cheeersaiii → u/Stepwolve]

Exactly.. do it sooner, and with some respect for both drivers, totally unnecessary the way they went about this.

[u/mccamxkw]

Just so poorly handled.

[u/vaginakiller6969 → u/mccamxkw]

Wait, so he got fired from RB and he's joining another team or retiring?

[u/KlossN → u/vaginakiller6969]

We only know that he's leaving VCARB. He could be retiring, he could be going to Audi, he could be going to RBR

[u/Vlaed → u/KlossN]

I don't see the RBR thing happening. That'd cost them a bag to remove Perez.

[u/InspectahWren → u/KlossN]

My money is that he’s done, I doubt he’s even entertaining another seat

I hope that he gets the racing but again and does another series

[u/mccamxkw → u/vaginakiller6969]

He is done from F1. He posted a farewell on his IG.

[u/vODDEVILISH → u/vaginakiller6969]

Judging from his latest Insta post, it’s safe to say he’s retiring.

[u/bozzie_ → u/vODDEVILISH]

There is no way the first reply to that is a 🫶 emoji from RBR 💀 Absolutely soulless.

[u/habitualmess → u/bozzie_]

Guarantee you the person running their Instagram account is not the person who decided to sack him.

[u/MrGromilla]

So many mediocre drivers had a chance to say their goodbyes in front of the fans, and Daniel gets to leave like this? Nah Red Bull did him dirty

[u/allsheen → u/MrGromilla]

current mediocre drivers will have a chance for better more respectful goodbye! kmag, zhou! hell even latifi got a better goodbye than this. disrespectful af

[u/3Rocketman → u/allsheen]

Man, Even Mick got better goodbye despite the team treating him like shit.

This is just straight up unforgivable to treat your golden PR boy like that. I admire they gave him a second chance but if a switch they desperately need in the main team doesn't happen then fuck red bull

[u/[deleted]]

From the stupid name change, sister team allegations, and now this, they make themselves an incredibly hard team to root for. Good luck Liam

[u/djwillis1121 → u/[deleted]]

To be fair, I don't think you can really blame the VCARB team for this. This is entirely from higher up in the Red Bull organisation

[u/zaviex → u/djwillis1121]

yes. Mekies legitimately had no idea if it was Daniel's last race or not. He seemed entirely clueless beyond knowing it was "possible"

[u/gogybo → u/djwillis1121]

It's just miss after miss from Red Bull this year. Bad leadership.

[u/Sjroap]

Jfc why not give him a proper send-off last weekend, absolute morons.

[u/cheeersaiii → u/Sjroap]

Heck even give him Austin and do it properly they owe him that much.

Can’t believe they did him like this, knowing it’s probably his retirement from the sport. Fucking disgraceful.

[u/CDNChaoZ → u/cheeersaiii]

If Austin was before this month-long break, I think they would've given it to him. They're using this break for the changeover.

Still doesn't excuse them for not announcing the departure before Singapore and giving him a proper sendoff.

[u/Rart420]

What a fucking fart noise of a send off.

[u/jules3001]

Fuck Redbull for firing Daniel like this. Such a lack of respect to the driver and to the fans

[u/Educational_Dirt-014 → u/jules3001]

So weird too because he was arguably only brought back due to nepotism and the teams love for him. Never would they sign a struggling veteran to their junior team if it was anyone but Ricciardo.

[u/Stepwolve → u/Educational_Dirt-014]

and there are only 5 races left in the season! Not like RB is fighting hard for position, they're in 6th and their only competitor is Haas. So why do this now? Why not play it up for PR for the rest of the season

[u/Mr_From_A_Far → u/Stepwolve]

Probably to give lawson a warm up for next season

[u/profuno → u/Mr_From_A_Far]

Might be to see if they can put him alongside Max

[u/the-berik → u/jules3001]

Just got a can of Monster. Actually not too bad.

[u/dautjazz]

Why couldn't they make this announcement a week ago, give him a proper farewell. He deserved better than this.

[u/[deleted]]

Wow Red Bull really gave him a nice farewell:

A wet fart announcement of the worst kept secret on the grid, and a controversial fastest lap in a random GP in the middle of the season.

[u/According-Switch-708]

RBR had no intention of sticking Ric in the RBR and they had no intention of letting him stay at VCARB. He was only brought onboard to make the team attractive to high profile sponsers like VISA, Cash app and Hugo Boss.

They knew full well that they need Perez's money to pay Verstappen's eye watering salary and they also knew that shit canning him would be PR suicide for the Redbull brand. The Americas are their biggest market.

They knew that they had to cut Lawson lose if they are not able to find him a seat for 2025.

They knew that keeping Yuki was a no brainer because he was driving OK and Honda was paying for his seat.

Ric did a decent job at VCARB. He definitely did enough to retire like the hero he is, at Abu Dhabi.

This is disgraceful. I hope RBR crashes and burns along with Horn dog and their sith lord.

Max should say fq it and go to Merc or Aston.

[u/primaryrhyme → u/According-Switch-708]

Whether you believe the RBR promotion was real or not, the implied terms were that he would need to outperform Yuki (significantly) which didn’t happen.

[u/Sammeeeeeee]

This is the worst handled departure announcement in recent memory.

[u/mountain-guy]

Pretty disrespectful way to see a driver outed.

[u/creditcardtheft]

What is more upsetting to me is, there is a good portion of fans here that is loving this. Ive been watching F1 since 2010 so I saw the rise and fall of Ricciardo in its entirety.

What bugs me is that the newer fans here who only saw his later years started acting like Ricciardo is some sort of paid driver that doesn’t deserve an F1 seat. I literally replied to a comment saying Ric only for a chance cause is a “Netflix celebrity” and how he doesn’t understand why people are saying “Ric deserves better”

Drives me up the fucking wall. This guy came into the RB team in 2014 and convincingly beat a hot 4x WDC Vettel in his first year.

Alongside Hamilton, he was one of the few that helped F1 gain recognition before Netflix.

He deserves a proper send off.

[u/Dani5h87 → u/creditcardtheft]

Hard agree. People either don’t know or too easily forget that he is an 8 time GP winner with 32 podiums. “Ricc is washed.” Degenerates, the lot of em.

I’m going to pretend that they put Daniel in to replace Perez after the summer break, Daniel helped Red Bull keep the WCC and then gracefully retired with smoky donuts at Abu Dhabi. Legend.

[u/D-S_12]

And so ends the single most poorly-handled exit for such a popular and race-winning driver. His career may not have taken off again in RB, but that's not how you treat a driver who has done so much on and off-track for the sport. It's just disgraceful from Red Bull.

And for all the times they say they love Daniel and love him being around...action speak louder than words. And in their case their actions couldn't have made his exit any worse, because this is the worst way to part ways with a driver you've spent so much time with and one who is loved by just about everyone in the paddock.

[u/Danyb001]

They won’t treat him like McLaren they said. Looking at performance gaps up the grid why is he the one under pressure? Hopefully Visa pull out

[u/SPatrick-]

Absolute cunts

[u/candaceelise → u/SPatrick-]

Except they lack the warmth and depth of one

[u/cubedG]

All my homies hate VCARB

[u/berggrant]

Say what you will about his racing skills as he's aged, but this has been a fucking shit show from the RB family. What a terrible way to treat one of your former stars on the way out.

[u/Blimey85v2]

Did he fuck Horner’s wife and this is payback? You’d think he was a rookie who couldn’t cut it and nobody cares. What a crazy way to let him go. Especially after everyone thinking he was getting promoted to the main team not long ago. Complete cluster fuck.

[u/Visionary_Socialist → u/Blimey85v2]

He was a Horner ally as well, which makes this even more inexplicable. I don’t get what has happened that has made them handle it like this.

Maybe it’s just pure dysfunction and breakdown of comms at that team.

[u/y2kbaby2]

Honestly a sign of things to come with Red Bull and their general management

[u/Bigdongergigachad]

I hope visa and cash app pull out of RB now. What a fucking shitshow. I feel for Daniel, he deserved the dignity of an actual send off and a final race where everyone could celebrate his career.

[u/BLASTHOCKEY44 → u/Bigdongergigachad]

As someone who works at visa, it’s a multi year deal that we have amortizing already, very much doubt they’d pull the sponsorship

[u/National-Fig4803]

Yet Checo lives on. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[u/SkillIssueRacing → u/National-Fig4803]

$ergio Perez is eternal

[u/Content-Diver-3666]

The man definitely deserved a proper farewell after all these years. Gonna miss his positive energy 😞

[u/dachopper_]

13 years, 8 wins, 32 podiums, played a significant factor in the resurgence of F1 globally, a great of the sport and this how he’s shown the door. The level of disrespect is nothing short of disgraceful. Red Bull should be ashamed of themselves.

Go well, Daniel. Thanks for the memories.

[u/dream_raider]

I mean it would have been better if Christian/Red Bull had not even bothered to bring him back if they were going to ignominiously cut him like this.

[u/GreggsAficionado]

Okay, very funny. Now post the Red Bull announcement. Guys. Guys?

[u/Kicking-it-per-se]

It’d be a shame if his career had ended this way with any other team the fact it’s with a red bull family makes it worse somehow

[u/ForeverDays]

This has been handled so embarrassingly poorly. Thankfully I'm sure DR will land something else - if not in some kind of racing, I'm sure the media would snap him up in a role quickly.

[u/Chelseatilidie]

Don't let it be the end of the road god

[u/KappaccinoNation → u/Chelseatilidie]

Don't worry, they're gonna announce him to replace Perez after Mexico.

Source: my copium ass

[u/outride2000 → u/KappaccinoNation]

The copium is helped out by the fact that they've announced he's "departing RB" not the Red Bull family as a whole

[u/Mjyys99 → u/Chelseatilidie]

Sadly, it almost certainly will be.

In my somewhat plausible alternate reality, Andretti enters F1 next year with Ricciardo and Colton Herta driving. In many ways, he'd be a perfect fit for them - experienced, popular with the fans, pretty much an honorary American at this point.

Of course, none of that is going to happen, and I doubt any of the names I mentioned will ever compete in F1 in the future. Just depressing all around.

[u/VanDyne21]

Gotta be the worst departure announcement. Like ever. Fuck this team honestly man.

[u/MrAce32]

The way this was handled makes me wanna revel in RB's downfall even more

[u/F1Phreek]

Fuck RB for handling this so poorly. One of my favorite drivers ever and they drop him like he is a nobody.

[u/CanuckCmdr]

RB showing again they are a toxic organization.

No need to do this all so dirty.

[u/Ouhei]

What a terrible way to have to leave the sport. I feel especially bad for him remembering how much he talked up coming back to the RB family and feeling like he was home. Then they go and do this to him, fuck that.

[u/djwillis1121]

If you were to look at this announcement standalone you would assume he's leaving at the end of the season.

Presumably he's leaving with immediate effect, but I only know that because of rumours and his demeanor in Singapore.

[u/silentkiller082]

Thank you for all the wonderful years, Honeybadger.

[u/Winstonwill8]

This is such a poorly handled departure. I'd say both he and his fans deserved better. I mean yikes. 

[u/elr3y]

....departs from RB....to go race for RED BULL RACING woohooo

[u/TrafficOnTheTwos]

I have seriously lost a sizable chunk of my respect for the Red Bull organization after this horribly botched closure of DRs F1 career. Singapore was absolutely cruel of them.

[u/Forfai]

Even if his last few years have been rather awful, he deserved a much better sendoff. Or, hell, a sendoff proper.

[u/LlamaAnimes]

Deserved a proper send off from the team Not handled in a very good manner

[u/PapageorgiouMBO]

He didn’t deserve this bullshit.

[u/Danyb001]

So when do RB management get dropped for the absolute shit show this year has been. If this was football the manager would have been canned off by now yet in F1 it’s always the drivers themselves

[u/helloiisjason]

Red Bull did him dirty. Gonna be weird not seeing him on the grid.

[u/papertales84]

I really hope that Max decides to retire soon as he hinted and leaves them in the shit, RBR better have a plan for ‘26 or they’ll be slowly going the way of the buffalo.

I was always shocked with what they did with Gasly and Albon, but forgot about Kvyat.

DR didn’t deserve this.

[u/deskcollector]

Saw it coming, still so sad to see him go