Red Bull Addresses Daniel Ricciardo Engine Snub

Playing Favourites?


Article heading image for Red Bull Addresses Daniel Ricciardo Engine Snub

Red Bull have been accused of playing favourites at last weekend's United States Grand Prix.

A brand new Renault engine was given to the team before the race.

Thought to be around 0.2 seconds a lap quicker (which is a big deal in F1), it was plugged into the back of Max Verstappen's car.

Daniel Ricciardo, wasn't told and only found out about the decision from the media before the race.

Team boss Christian Horner was in damage control about their failure to tell the Aussie that Max would be getting some new horsepower.

“Renault have only made one engine available to each team and Max was due a change here," he told Autosport.com.

“So obviously it made logical sense for that to go in his car this weekend and take the penalty."

It was a call made all the worse for Ricciardo when his engine suffered an oil leak and he was forced to retire from the race on Lap 16.

Whether or not the engine can be salvaged for this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix is a mystery.

Ricciardo's already resigned himself to starting at the back should an engine change happen.

“I’ll do my best to try and charge through the field and you’ll hopefully see more of today in Mexico," he said.

The Australian can't be feeling the love after Horner claimed Verstappen was the "future of the team" and could be keeping his options after 2018.

Last week he admitted he'd like to partner Mercedes gun Lewis Hamilton in his prime.

Sean Maynard

10 December 2018

Article by:

Sean Maynard




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