Daniel Ricciardo has made one costly error that’s changed the course of his F1 career, Peter Windsor says.
RB veteran Ricciardo is one of seven drivers who have yet to score a point after the first three rounds of the season.
And speaking on the Inside Line F1 podcast, Windsor was critical of what he saw as a decisive misstep.
There were rumours following the Australian Grand Prix, when Ricciardo suffered a Q1 exit and finished 12th, that his seat was at risk.
One outlet even suggested that he could lose his drive to young reserve Liam Lawson if he didn’t improve before the Miami Grand Prix.
Lawson’s camp insisted they had ‘no idea’ where that story has come from, while Red Bull director Helmut Marko has ruled out such an early swap.
Ricciardo has lost out to teammate Yuki Tsunoda in all three qualifying sessions so far this season.
The margin between the two has been larger than the deficit between Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries, who surrendered his seat to Ricciardo midway through last year.
Tsunoda was the team’s hero in Melbourne as he scored six points to lift them ahead of Sauber, Williams, Alpine and Haas in the constructors’ standings.
Peter Windsor says Daniel Ricciardo made ‘terrible’ call in leaving Red Bull
Windsor reckons that Ricciardo went against his ‘heart and soul’ when he opted to leave Red Bull at the end of the 2018 season.
He suspects that it’s proven to be a good move financially, but has had major repercussions for his ailing career.
Windsor said of the exit: “Terrible decision by Daniel Ricciardo in my opinion.
“Yes, he’s a richer man in terms of his bank account, but not a good decision to make.
“It’s a decision against the heart and soul of what he was all about.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner privately agrees with that assessment, having harboured concerns at the time.
When did Daniel Ricciardo join F1?
Ricciardo actually started out in F1 midway through the season, jumping in the backmarker HRT car at the 2011 British Grand Prix.
After seeing out that campaign at the back of the grid, the Red Bull junior jumped up to Toro Rosso.
With Mark Webber retiring at the end of 2013, he found himself in a shoot-out with teammate Jean-Eric Vergne for a spot alongside world champion Sebastian Vettel the following year.
It was the Australian who got the nod, and he sprung a major surprise by beating Vettel in his first year and taking his first three Grand Prix victories.
Ricciardo would stay with the Milton Keynes outfit for the next four seasons, edging Max Verstappen in their first full year together as teammates in 2017.
He then decided to make a shock move to Renault for 2019 amid fears that Verstappen would become the dominant figure at Horner’s outfit.
His stint with the French manufacturer proved to be brief, delivering little of note beyond two podium finishes, and McLaren was his next stop in 2021.
While Ricciardo won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix to take his career win tally to eight, he largely struggled to match Lando Norris and McLaren decided to replace him with compatriot Oscar Piastri for 2023.
That led to a brief stint on the sidelines before Horner offered him a lifeline in light of De Vries’ underperformance.
There was an expectation that Ricciardo would come full-circle and return to Red Bull, but he’s once again fighting to stay in F1 full-stop.
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