Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo says he understands the reasoning behind the Milton Keynes based teams quit threats.
Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz threatened to pull the plug on Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso amid their current ‘situation’, which sees them struggling to fight at the front because of a lack of power and reliability.
Whilst the team has backtracked on the claims, Ricciardo can see why Mateschitz could be growing tired of spending hundreds of millions to fight for a handful of points at each race.
“When I hear about it and the frustrations with Mateschitz, I completely understand as he’s not in this sport to make up the numbers,” the Australian told the Brisbane Times.
“If we as drivers are frustrated, I’m sure he’s just as – if not more – frustrated, because it’s his brand, his money and his image.
“Whether these exit threats are real or directly coming from him, I don’t know. But I do hear them – it’s hard not to,” he added.
Ricciardo, now the de facto team leader with Sebastian Vettel moving on to Ferrari, finds himself in a difficult situation wanting to talk out about the teams struggles, yet feeling a need to keep the team motivated.
“It’s a fine line because at times you want to have a bit of a tantrum,” he said. “But I’m aware what that would look like, and it wouldn’t help.
“Everyone knows the situation we’re in, so there’s no point me putting fuel on that fire.”
