Steiner has no hard feelings over Ricciardo snub

Guenther Steiner has no hard feelings over Daniel Ricciardo rejecting a potential seat at Haas to go back to Red Bull.

Ricciardo was left searching for a seat after McLaren replaced him with Oscar Piastri for the 2023 season, electing to go back to Red Bull as third driver instead of driving for a midfield team.

It turned out to be a move that benefitted the Australian financially while enabling him to get back on track with his desire to return to Red Bull as a full-time driver.

Ricciardo returned to the grid mid-season to replace Nyck de Vries, but this is merely a stop-gap, with Ricciardo already making clear his intention to take Sergio Perez's seat for 2025, but he is trying to impress Red Bull in what is currently the slowest car on the grid in the AlphaTauri AT04.

When asked whether he would have liked to have Ricciardo in his team, Steiner told media, including RacingNews365: "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: Teams fully qualified to make decisions

The Haas team boss is known for being ruthless with some drivers, with the team electing to oust Mick Schumacher last year due to a run of poor performances.

"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," he explained.

"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.

"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."