Daniel Ricciardo never gave up on his Formula 1 race seat until the very last moment, according to RB CEO Peter Bayer.
Many of the popular Australian driver’s fans were furious that team owner Red Bull kept secret the news that Ricciardo, 35, would be replaced by Liam Lawson after the Singapore GP - when it was obvious to almost everyone.
Bayer, though, said it was Ricciardo himself who asked the team to hold back the official confirmation of his ousting.
"We had agreed with Daniel that we would not communicate it," he told Auto Motor und Sport.
"We knew that it would look a bit odd, but we also did it to protect our driver. It was his wish," Bayer added.
According to Bayer, Ricciardo clung to the idea that he might be able to perform so well in Singapore that Red Bull might have a change of heart. Other rumours suggest a race win or podium in Singapore could have triggered contract clauses that guaranteed that he would be able to race on.
"He believed until the very end that he would finish at the front in qualifying and show everyone what he could do," said Bayer.
"I have never seen such mental strength in an athlete as this person has. And I have been in many sports."
Unfortunately, Singapore - Ricciardo’s last race in F1 - was not a good weekend for the driver.
"It was a terrible moment when he was eliminated in Q1," said Bayer. "You could already hear on the radio that his world had collapsed.
"We then sat together in our office at two in the morning and asked him what we should do now. He told us we should just let him drive the race. He just didn’t want any fuss."
In the end, Ricciardo was tearful after the Singapore GP night race on Sunday - but it was still several days before Red Bull finally confirmed that Lawson would be in his cockpit for the remainder of the season.
Many of his fans were furious with Red Bull.
"As a team, we stood up for him," Bayer insists. "If Daniel had stayed until Abu Dhabi, of course we would have celebrated his farewell with fireworks and photos on the grid, like what happened with (Kimi) Raikkonen. That’s what everyone would have wanted."
He also points out that it was Red Bull who actually gave Ricciardo a second chance to shine in Formula 1 after being axed by McLaren, also for poor performance, at the end of 2022.
"We gave him another chance that nobody thought possible," said Bayer. "It was important for us that at the end of the day we could look in the mirror and say that we did the right thing for him - even if the whole world and his nine million Instagram fans were bashing us."