Daniel Ricciardo has restated his intention of helping Renault back to the top in Formula 1.
The Australian has had a mixed first year since making the bold move from Red Bull, with stand out results in Canada and Italy but plenty of disappointing races along the way.
All this has already raised questions as to whether Ricciardo could move teams again for 2021 after his current contract expires, but he insists that isn’t his wish.
“Do I want to stay? Yes, because ideally, we do get this to the next level,” he told the BBC.
“My intention wasn’t to have a two-year layover somewhere else, I know people might still think that, but I really want this to work. I feel like the hours I have put in this year have shown I have the drive to want to do so.”
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Even so, that didn’t stop team boss Cyril Abiteboul from suggesting an academy driver could step up in 2021, which would almost certainly be in Ricciardo’s place as Renault signed Esteban Ocon into a two-year deal starting next season.
“I definitely haven’t made any decisions yet,” the 30-year-old said of his future. “I haven’t had this discussion with Cyril, I don’t want to speak for him, but he’s frustrated with this year.
“I think part of him feels like – I don’t want to say he’s let us down, but we did expect to do better.
“When we chatted last year, there were higher hopes for this year. We’re confident next year is going to be a lot better, but he’s thinking probably: ‘If it doesn’t go [better], why would Daniel want to stay?’.
“That’s probably where his head’s at and that’s probably where those comments come from.
“It’s him just being brutally honest with himself and wanting to do better and wanting the team to do better – to basically keep me and any other assets.”
Rather than be downbeat about this year, however, Ricciardo says the challenge has actually done the opposite.
“Definitely not to be negative, but regardless of even if we were coming sixth every weekend, I knew there were still bigger targets and that we were still not going to be where we want to be,” he admitted.
“Yes, we’re at times further back than we expected and hoped, but I knew there would be work to be done and a lot of hours to put in. I feel like I was prepared for that.
“Even though I feel like I have worked more hours and probably worked harder this year than in previous years, it has still been quite enjoyable because the environment is different – new people, new relationships.
“If anything, it has reiterated what I want in the sport.”