The Mercedes driver endured a poor Monaco Grand Prix, finishing down in seventh place after struggling for pace during the race.
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When the safety vehicle finally left the track, it was Ricciardo who started from pole who stormed away from the two Mercedes drivers, Nico Rosberg and Hamilton.
Speaking to reporters after the race, Horner said they were simply unable to be ready for the Australian before he arrived in the pits.
The difficulty of the conditions was obvious straight away, when Jolyon Palmer lost control of his Renault and crashed out.
Ricciardo was livid after the race and said he could not understand how the crew could be so late with the tyres when the team called him into the pits. He added: “It’s massively disappointing”.
“And when you’re behind cars in Monaco, that’s it”.
“And now we just analyse how and what went wrong and why we got into this situation”.
Grabbing the race trophy from Monaco’s Prince Albert, Hamilton then tossed it up in the air and just about caught it.
“In such a hard situation, to give up the position and understand the global situation was great team play from Nico”, said Wolff.
Technical boss Paddy Lowe also thanked Rosberg for playing his part in the “overall team result”.
It still could, but Sunday will be a tougher challenge with Rosberg starting second on a track where overtaking is always a challenge.
The safety auto led the field for the first seven laps but it then became clear, with Ricciardo pulling away, that Rosberg was struggling to get his tyres up to temperature and Hamilton was faster.
Hamilton recognized he had been through a tough time. Hamilton finally pitted at the end of lap 31 for a set of brand new Ultra-Soft tyres (the purple banded tyres finally coming into play).
Rosberg maintains his lead spot in the 2016 Drivers’ Championship with 106 points though Hamilton has now narrowed the gap, moving into second with 82 points.
“I guess from the outside we put on a show but it shouldn’t have been exciting”.
Two races in a row, I’ve been screwed. “I don’t know why they weren’t ready”.
“What the f***? was that?” asked a furious Ricciardo as he waved his hand at Hamilton.
“Absolutely. It was going to be close for sure, but I definitely think so”.
“Not making excuses because there are none, but obviously with the tightness of the garages here, it’s very tight to have extreme wets, intermediates and three different types of slicks for both cars in the garage at the same time”, he said. Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Ferrari with Jenson Button completing a double-points finish for McLaren on their 50th anniversary after he crossed the line in ninth.
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Britain’s Jolyon Palmer was the first driver to crash out after losing his Renault in spectacular fashion on the pit straight while Max Verstappen, the 18-year-old Dutchman, who became the sport’s youngest-ever victor last time out in Spain, also failed to reach the end after a collision with the barriers. Kevin Magnussen and Max Verstappen also spun out of the race, whilst Daniil Kvyat retired after a collision.
