Horner: "They told me they had to retire Ricciardo's car but I refused"

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has revealed that the team wanted to retire Daniel Ricciardo's car but that he refused to do so as the Aussie was in the lead of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Christian Horner was quick to praise his Australian driver after his fantastic drive that earned him the victory in the Principality. It was far from a cakewalk with everything that was starting to fail on the Red Bull.

"Unbelievable, he was not going to give this race up this weekend," he told Sky Sports F1.

"He's been quickest in every session.

"We lose the MGU-K 17 or 18 laps into the race so he's giving up two-and-a-half seconds a lap.

"Then your brake temperatures go out of control, the fuel and tyre temperatures start going.

"Yet he managed it like he was on a Sunday afternoon drive."

Horner then revealed how the team were telling him that they maybe were going to have to stop Ricciardo's car after his MGU-K went.

"They're telling me on the intercom they'll have to retire the car in one or two laps.

"I said 'Look, we're in the lead of the Monaco GP, we're keeping going'."

Back to Ricciardo's drive, Horner praised how interactive Ricciardo was with his troubleshooting.

"Moving the switches around, driving to save fuel, brakes, tyres, asking what's going on with Max's tyres.

"He drove an unbelievable race this weekend."