During an exclusive interview with the German ‘Motorsport-Total’, Helmut Marko looks back on Daniel Ricciardo’s career. According to Marko, Ricciardo’s departure from Red Bull caused the Australian to lose his so-called ‘killer instinct’.
“I think his decision to leave Red Bull marked a turning point in his career,” Marko told Motorsport-Total. “Then he didn’t have a car with which he could win at either Renault or McLaren. He did indeed win in Monza, but those were special circumstances.”
“I don’t know what exactly happened, because if we had known, we would have helped him. But the speed, and especially braking very late, and then going left or right… during the past years he tried it but it was no longer there, his killer instinct was gone.”
According to Helmut Marko, Daniel Ricciardo made the wrong decision to race for Renault in 2019. According to Marko, Ricciardo had reservations about his role in the team alongside Verstappen and also about the Honda engine with which Red Bull would race from 2019.
“He had doubts about the Honda engine and was clearly seduced by the sweet talk of Renault and Cyril Abiteboul,” said Marko. “Financially there was not that big of a difference with what we had offered him.”
“I also said to him, ‘Shoeys are going to be harder for you.’ We haven’t seen Renault on the podium very often.”
“He came to us, he beat Vettel in 2014 with three wins to none, Daniil Kvyat was faster at times, but for a full season he was also in control of him.”
“And then Max came and he got stronger and stronger, so that was certainly one of the reasons for his decision to leave us and go to Renault.”
