Daniel Ricciardo has finally acknowledged concerns over Honda did largely result in his decision to join Renault for 2019.
The Australian’s future was one of the main stories of last year and, just as it appeared he was set to remain with Red Bull, he surprised everyone by signing for the French manufacturer at the start of the summer break.
Ricciardo’s former team has always made it clear they did all they could to retain the 29-year-old, but after five seasons of being close but not close enough at the front of the grid, the ‘Honey Badger’ concedes he wasn’t ready for more frustration.
“I do not know, I guess it was close to what I wanted,” he told RACER of whether Red Bull had met his demands. “There were a few things.
“I used to make a two-year contract, I had already wondered if I wanted to do another year there or do two years, but I was a little concerned with myself personally; with my motivation, I was not sure she was still there.
“I just thought if Honda did not work, I would have spent another year of frustration. Did I really want that, or did I just want to finish it?” Ricciardo admitted.
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There was speculation that Ricciardo would only sign for one year to keep his options open, particularly with Valtteri Bottas’ status at Mercedes evaluated season-by-season.
“At first, it was an issue that concerned me, so I thought, ‘Okay, let’s push for a year and if the Honda engine works so much better, we’ll extend and so on, that’s easy’,” he said confirming those claims.
“But a year, I thought that was risky! I did not feel like I was getting anything by signing a year.
“I did not know, [negotiating a new deal usually] does not happen like that, so I wanted [the year] but then I did not really want to finish [and sign].”
Rather than risk the uncertainty at Red Bull, Ricciardo ultimately opted for Renault, who are trying to once again become a top team in F1 with the challenge of helping achieve that goal proving appealing.
