Helmut Marko believes Daniel Ricciardo could have won a world title at Red Bull (Image: Getty)
says he regrets nothing about diverting his full focus away from and betting on as soon as he was promoted to ‘s senior team.
Marko admits that Ricciardo could potentially have won a world title if he remained the team’s star man in 2016 and 2017. But Verstappen quickly became the main attraction after winning the in his very first race.
Since then, and the four subsequent seasons it took for the Dutchman to find himself in a title-worthy car, Verstappen’s association with has been a story of huge success.
The team needed a special talent after losing four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel to in 2015. And in Verstappen, that is exactly what they got, with the 27-year-old already matching Vettel’s Drivers’ Championship haul and threatening to challenge Michael Schumacher and at the top of the pile.
“When Seb left us at the end of 2014, we had to look for a young talent who was possibly just as interesting and offered the same perspective,” Marko told . “The choice fell on Max.
“To be honest, I think Max – compared to the current competition and also to Vettel himself – is in a different class. He is just on a completely different level.
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Max Verstappen has won four individual world titles at Red Bull (Image: Getty)
“A lot changed in that time. I decided very quickly to bet completely on Verstappen and things went a certain way. Max won a race straight away, in Spain.
“Maybe, if I had bet more on Ricciardo at that time by postponing Verstappen’s arrival at a bit, Daniel might have won a title. But I did it differently and I don’t regret it at all. I’m happy that I lost the gamble on Ricciardo and won the gamble on Verstappen.”
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Marko’s comments may be tough to stomach for Ricciardo, who bowed out of F1 after losing his seat at ‘s sister team, , before the end of last season. The Aussie won eight Grands Prix and twice finished third in the Drivers’ Championship, spending his prime years at .
But his final few seasons on the grid were tough. From underwhelming at Renault, he then struggled to keep up with at and ultimately failed to make an impact at before being replaced by Liam Lawson.