F1 team principal has no hard feelings about Daniel Ricciardo rejecting his offer last season

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner recently revealed that he has no qualms or bad feelings against Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian was without a seat for the 2023 F1 season after being dropped by McLaren. It was at this time that Steiner reached out to Daniel with an offer.

However, Daniel Ricciardo was exhausted at the time and had made up his mind about taking a break from F1. He felt burnt out from the sport and wanted to take some time off, which is why he rejected the offer from Haas. It was around this time that Red Bull picked up the Australian for a reserve driver role within the team.

That reserve driver role has now transformed into a seat at AlphaTauri as Red Bull continues to evaluate Daniel Ricciardo as a possible replacement for Sergio Perez. In all of this, Guenther Steiner admits that there is no bad blood between him and the driver. As quoted by RacingNews365, Steiner stated:

"Obviously he had a plan for what he wanted to do and it worked out for him. I think Daniel is a very good guy and he's won races. He had a tough season last year, not an easy one the year before, and sometimes you need to take a step back to [make] two forward."

---

Steiner on Red Bull's decision to put Daniel Ricciardo in an AlphaTauri

When questioned about Red Bull's thought process and his own views on Daniel Ricciardo getting a seat in AlphaTauri, Steiner felt that this came down to the overall thought process of the team. He was of the opinion that every team gives a decision its due consideration before going ahead with it:

"Everybody needs to do a decision they want to make. We did one last year, everybody has got an opinion on what we did when we didn't extend one of our drivers. If a team decides that is the best way to move forward for them? I have no opinion on it. They know what they're doing. I think they are fully qualified to do it."

Continuing his statement, he added:

"Obviously having Daniel in the stable makes the decision a lot easier. Daniel had a tough year last year, but they always said he's won races before, so there must be talent."

In all likelihood, it seems that Daniel Ricciardo's decision to not join Haas has worked like a charm as he finds himself in a position to drive for a top team.