Daniel Ricciardo says his desire to win the world championship will motivate the decision on his Formula 1 future beyond 2020.
The Australian is out of contract at Renault and will to decide whether he wants to continue on the path he opted for when he left Red Bull at the end of 2018, or put himself in the running for either a Ferrari or Mercedes seat.
Comments from the French manufacturer this year haven’t always been particularly positive about holding onto Ricciardo for 2021.
Speaking this week, however, team boss Cyril Abiteboul still thinks they can be successful together.
“We do feel it is a journey that has much more to offer than what it offered last year,” he told Formula1.com. “We all know last year was a bit of mixed feelings, mixed results to many degrees.
“We feel we can do better, which is why certainly there is a shared feeling we should do more. Whether that leads to an extension of the contract, time will tell but there is certainly a shared appetite if my understanding is correct.”
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Despite Abiteboul’s optimism, with no races so far in 2020, there’s been no opportunity for Ricciardo to weigh up the Enstone outfit’s performance trajectory.
And that is now crucial after it was agreed to delay the all-new 2021 cars by at least a year, something Renault was hoping to use as a catalyst to move up the grid.
“It’s frustrating that the sport is driven quite a lot by being in the right equipment in the right season, but it’s what I signed up for and that in itself is an exciting part of the sport,” Ricciardo said, speaking to the BBC this week.
“The challenge is to position yourself with the best team at that moment and when rule changes come in, it’s like, is that still the right team to be with, or are we missing something? Do we need to try to build on what we’ve got here?
“It’s kind of like chess a lot of the time. I wish it was black and white and everyone had the same and we could go and see who was the best, but that is not how it works. But I do feel that the best will always find a way to make it to the top.”
Because of the delayed F1 season, a decision may well come much later in the year than usual, with the summer months typically when talks take place.
And for Ricciardo, during that process, there will be one goal that motivates his thinking.
“My basic target with this whole journey was not just getting into F1. It was to leave a world champion,” he said. “Was I excited to get to F1? Absolutely. Do I love it? Yes. I haven’t got there yet. But am I still enjoying it? Absolutely.
“But if it ended today would I be disappointed? A big part of me would be because it’s something I really believe I am good enough to achieve, so I would feel it has left smelting on the table.
“That is the ultimate goal. The day I stop believing I’m able to get that any more it is the day you’ll probably see me walk away from the sport, but I certainly still believe this can happen.”