David Coulthard believes has pulled off a publicity 'masterstroke' by snubbing the opportunity to announce his own exit before the Singapore Grand Prix. Fans were left in the dark over whether or not the most recent race weekend would be the popular Australian driver's last, unable to give him a proper send-off.
Ricciardo was subsequently axed by VCARB in the aftermath of the race. It likely ends his career at the elite level of motorsport.
Damon Hill has led the complaints that Ricciardo was not able to announce his departure to his fans, believing the 35-year-old's followers deserved to know that their hero was stepping away from Formula One.
However, according to former driver Coulthard, Ricciardo did actually have the opportunity to announce his exit. However, the eight-time race winner decided to turn down the offer, perhaps to maximise his publicity at future race weekends.
"I know there's been a lot of reaction negatively, people going, why was he not given that opportunity?," Coulthard told the podcast. "But I've heard that he was given that opportunity and chose not to.
"So I'm trying to kind of figure that out in my head, whether that's just a personal thing, didn't want to be distracted by that, or whether that's some sort of media masterstroke, which will just gain even more mileage when I imagine he will or should turn up in Austin and Vegas. He's big in America.
"[Those are] two great opportunities for him to get a lot of airtime and make it all about him, where maybe it would have been mixed into a Grand Prix weekend in Singapore."
VCARB - the sister team of Red Bull - decided to part ways with Ricciardo and hand young New Zealander Liam Lawson an opportunity for the final six races of the 2024 season.
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko claimed Ricciardo had lost his 'killer instinct'. "[The timing] was related to a variety of factors and obligations," he told Motorsport Total. "He was informed, and the worthy farewell performance was, I think, the fastest lap.
"That still showed what potential he has, not continuously and not at the level that would have justified him coming to Red Bull Racing, but that was an impeccable performance.
"I don't know what exactly happened, because if we knew, we would have helped him. But the speed and, above all, this late braking, and then he goes left or right ... in these last few years he tried but it was no longer there, the killer instinct was gone.
