Daniel Ricciardo has pointed to a “kaleidoscope” of reasons for leaving Red Bull at the end of last season.
The Australian spent for the first half of 2018 agitating over his Formula 1 future but, just as it appeared he would re-sign, surprised everyone during the summer break by announcing a move to Renault.
Offering an explanation for his late change of heart, Ricciardo has often cited the need for a fresh challenge but now he admits the fear of continued stagnation at Red Bull worried him.
“At Red Bull, you always measure yourself against the successes that have been achieved in the past and the danger is that you will be disappointed,” he told Germany’s Motorsport-Total.
“My impression is that the risk of failing [at Red Bull] was greater than switching here [to Renault] and being at risk of not winning.”
What confused some about Ricciardo’s decision was how the Renault engine often held Red Bull back and that hurdle looked set to be overcome by changing to Honda from this year.
And as for the works team, though it finished fourth in last year’s Constructors’ Championship, progress maybe wasn’t as quick as hoped.
“Renault is not there yet in terms of where it wants to go, the team has been catching up [since 2016] and mistakes are likely to continue, but my impression is that these mistakes are being phased out, and my personal feeling tells me Honda has more problems to solve,” the seven-time Grand Prix winner said.
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Also lingering was the growing presence of Max Verstappen at Red Bull, with the Dutchman increasingly becoming the focus of their attention.
In fact, Ricciardo saw the reaction to last year’s collision in Baku as an example of the leadership inadvertently pinning their colours on the 21-year-old.
“We both got a talking to, putting it politely,” he told Autosport. “But in my eyes, I guess the incident itself was…I felt like I was not really in the wrong even though I was the one that hit him. I think most people saw the double move [Verstappen made in defence].
“Even before that, there was a lot of contact and I think a lot of people thought it went on too long. I guess the way it was handled at the time didn’t sit too well with me, so that was like a little thing that bothered me.
“I couldn’t tell you how many little pieces made up the puzzle, the kaleidoscope [to make the final decision], but I guess that was one of the little pieces.”
Ricciardo does insist, however, he doesn’t have an issue with Verstappen himself.
“I don’t necessarily think Max was political. Just Max is Max,” he said. “Even now, and I don’t need to be careful with what I say, it [the relationship] was actually pretty good.
“Look, some of the flamboyancy with Max, that is just with age as well, and I guess from that point of view I would expect less with [new Renault teammate] Nico [Hulkenberg] just because it is a bit of an age gap and maturity.
“Nico has been around the block plenty of times. But going back to Max…I don’t think he was political. It was fun.”
