Red Bull's inability to keep a straight story, a study:
Marko told Motorsport that Daniel was made aware that Singapore would be his last race. “[The timing] was related to a variety of factors and obligations, He was informed, and the worthy farewell performance was, I think, the fastest lap.” [Source: Motorsport 26/09/24]. However, when Daniel was asked to address the rumours in Singapore during media day on 19/09/24 if contractually it was even possible that Singapore could be his last race, Daniel laughed and said: "I don't think so. But I also don't want to stand here and be the lawyer. Look, I would say ‘no.’” This was corroborated by Mekies the following day on the 20/09/24 to Sky Sport F1 when asked about purported Singapore deadline, confirming “We made it also quite public that we will sit down together after Singapore, that's where we are really. So, nothing decided so far".
Writing for Formula 1 on the 26/09/2024, Barretto says that “High-level sources” told him that Daniel was informed he would be dropped in Baku, round 17 of the calendar. However, Craig Slater who broke the news on Sky Sports F1 says his sources told him “Riccardo learned the news that he would not be continuing in that car on Sunday night in Singapore. It was confirmed officially to him in a face-to-face meeting with Christian Horner and it was a very emotional evening, I spoke to Daniel”. Slater added that he visited the VCARB hospitality and "there were a fair few tears in that VCARB hospitality area” [Source: Sky Sports F1 26/09/24]
Horner claims that Helmut wanted Daniel out by Barcelona: “Even around Barcelona, Helmut wanted him out of the car. There was already a lot of pressure on him there.” [Source: F1 Nation podcast, 30/09/24 ] Barcelona was round 10 of the calendar, yet in round 13 when Helmut was asked if there was a favourite among the three incumbent drivers Helmut was still open [Source: ORF 19/07/24]
Lawson stated that “I knew about it for the last probably two weeks,” to New Zealand’s Newstalk ZB after his F1 promotion became public [Source: Newstalk ZB, 26/09/24]. However, when SkyF1 Germany asked VCARB CEO Bayer if Singapore would be Daniel’s last race he said: “No”. And that the much speculated post Singapore deadline is to determine their 2025 lineup: “Singapore is certainly another milestone and there will now be these final discussions after Singapore to discuss our line-up for 2025” [Source: SkySportFormel1, 20/09/24]. However x2, Lawson does not even have a contract for 2025 "I've got until the end of the season," Lawson confirmed in an [Source: New Zealand Herald, 27/09/24]. "I'll find out more about how it looks as the season progresses. But for now, yes, it's these six races."
VCARB TP Mekies told Motorsport that the move is not about immediate results because Daniel still had the speed as per Miami, the move to drop Daniel was to address driver lineup concerns for 2026 however both Verstappen and Perez allegedly have contracts until 2026. [source: Motorsport 27/09/24]
When there are so many conflicting narratives in such a short period of time: someone is lying.
+The only side of the story we haven’t heard since this catastrophic breakdown in PR and internal communications is Daniel's side :)
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