Red Bull Racing’s history with Australian drivers is defined by a striking contrast. Mark Webber laid the groundwork for the team’s championship dominance alongside Sebastian Vettel, while Daniel Ricciardo seized the reins at the dawn of the turbo-hybrid era. In a recent 60 Minutes Australia interview, team principal Christian Horner offered an unvarnished retrospective on both tenures, drawing a sharp line between the bitter conclusion of Webber’s career and the electrifying start of Ricciardo’s.
The Disrespect of 2013
By 2013, the relationship between Mark Webber and Red Bull had fractured completely. The infamous “Multi-21” controversy at the Malaysian Grand Prix had pushed the intense rivalry between Webber and Vettel to its breaking point.
On the Thursday before the British Grand Prix, Webber announced his retirement from Formula 1 effective at season’s end. However, the Australian elected to break the news of his move to Porsche directly to the media without informing Horner personally. Over a decade later, that breach of protocol remains a vivid memory for the team principal.
Mark Webber, Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal
Photo by: Motorsport Images
“I was just sad when he left that he did it in the manner that he did,” Horner stated bluntly. “I thought it was disrespectful to the team as well.”
While Horner acknowledged that time has healed the rift—the two are now on amicable terms—the corporate slight of announcing a departure to the press before the team principal left a lasting impression.
Becoming an “Animal”
Webber’s departure cleared the path for Daniel Ricciardo, who was promoted from the junior Toro Rosso squad for the 2014 season. Despite his promise, Red Bull management harbored genuine doubts regarding whether Ricciardo possessed the elite racecraft required to compete at the very front of the grid.
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Horner detailed how swiftly those reservations evaporated once Ricciardo was placed in championship-caliber machinery.
“Our hesitation was that we hadn’t seen him overtake too many cars, and then when he got in the Red Bull car he never stopped overtaking people,” Horner recalled. “He became an animal on the brakes and won three Grand Prix in his first year with us.”
Those victories—secured in Canada, Hungary, and Belgium—arrived during a season of total Mercedes dominance. Routinely outperforming four-time defending champion Vettel in identical equipment, Ricciardo instantly established himself as one of the premier late-brakers in modern Formula 1 history.
Horner’s reflections underscore the high-stakes nature of driver management at Red Bull, illustrating how an unproven prospect can rapidly ascend to team legend, and how a veteran’s exit can sour a legacy in an instant.