Racing
How Red Bull blocked Daniel Ricciardo from winning the world’s top race?
Daniel Ricciardo may have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015, but Red Bull prevented him from competing, according to Porsche’s former endurance racing head.
At the end of 2014, Andreas Seidl, who is now McLaren’s team principal, targeted Ricciardo, saying he “wasn’t sure” the Australian would “make it” in Formula One.
“So I wanted to give him a way out and give him an opportunity in an LMP car,” Seidl joked.
However, a deal for Ricciardo fell through when his previous employer, Red Bull, refused to let him compete in the legendary race, which takes place in the middle of the Formula One season.
“I knew he was interested in doing it but at the time it didn’t work out because he didn’t get allowance from Red Bull because (2014) was his first year being at Red Bull and Red Bull wanted at the time his full focus on the (F1) project,” Seidl told the podcast.
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“At the time I followed quite closely what he was doing in the different cars he was in already at the time and I always admired his on and off-track performance.”
Instead, Porsche signed Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, who raced in two rounds of the 2015 WEC season.
He won Le Mans with Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber in one of the races.
Since Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot in 1991, Hulkenberg was the first full-time Formula One driver to win the race.
Seidl has finally joined forces with Ricciardo, and the two will compete for McLaren in the 2021 Formula One season.
It’s been a long time coming, with Seidl’s failed recruitment attempt in 2014 and McLaren CEO Zak Brown’s unsuccessful attempt to attract Ricciardo from Red Bull after 2018.
“It didn’t work out that time but… I’m just happy now that it worked out,” Seidl said.
