Renault team boss Cyril Abiteboul does anticipate flashpoints between Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon next year.
There’s no doubt the young Frenchman will be eager to prove himself upon his return to the Formula 1 grid, while his Australian teammate is always known as a tough racer.
Though you would expect there to be a lot of healthy banter and respect in any relationship involving Ricciardo, Abiteboul expects them to push each other hard.
“[Esteban] will want to beat Daniel,” he stated to Formula1.com.
“I know that we will have some challenges from a driver management perspective on the pit wall to manage that, but that’s also a nice problem to have.”
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The Renault chief also thinks Ocon will bring more drive and motivation to the Enstone-based outfit, something perhaps missing from their current second driver.
“The problem sometimes in Formula 1 is you have people doing very long careers and at the end, they are a bit [there] to be in Formula 1 and almost [winning] becomes secondary. I don’t want that at any point in the company,” Abiteboul suggested.
“Don’t get me wrong, when I’m saying that, I’m not talking about Nico [Hulkenberg], but I do feel that when you are 22, early days of your career – a career for which you had to fight a lot, it’s a different dynamic. It’s the sort of dynamic that I feel is the right dynamic for our team.
“So if you ask me whether we’ve taken Esteban because Esteban is simply a better driver than Nico, I am absolutely unable to tell you… But do I believe that it’s better in the dynamic of our team? Yes, I feel so.”