Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020

Ricciardo: McLaren move was harder decision than switch to Renault

2021 F1 season

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Daniel Ricciardo says his decision to join McLaren for the 2021 F1 season was a harder call to make than his move to Renault last year.

He told the official F1 website McLaren’s progress last year motivated his decision to leave Renault.

“If I go back to last year, last year’s our best reference for now, they were the team that made the most noise,” said Ricciardo. “Mercedes won the championship again but it was quite clear probably to most that McLaren was the team which made the biggest step out of all.

“That was obviously encouraging for them, and that’s really all you can base it off. And then there’s the pitch for the future. Obviously they’re switching switching power units and all that. So there’s a bit I guess which they’re excited about for now.

“Even now talking about it it’s certainly tough because it was by no means like an easy decision as you can imagine and not having really much to gauge from 2020, that was pretty difficult.”

Ricciardo’s move followed Sebastian Vettel’s decision to leave Ferrari at the end of the year. His place will be taken by Carlos Sainz Jnr, who Ricciardo will replace at McLaren.

Vettel’s announcement “sparked everything”, said Ricciardo, who believes he couldn’t have afforded to wait until later in the year to judge Renault’s progress.

“Things were moving pretty quickly obviously around Carlos and all the other stuff. So I don’t think, although it seemed like maybe there was still time, I don’t actually think there was, to make movement, if that was what you were kind of going for.

“If you start racing in July – which even then wasn’t 100 percent [certain], let’s say we did, which we are by the looks of it – you’ve then got a few races. You’re not going to find out in the first race, the second race. So you’re probably going wait until August, maybe even September until you really know where everyone’s at. And by then it felt like it was gonna be too late to really get to get something you were after.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “Ricciardo: McLaren move was harder decision than switch to Renault”

  1. Hope he has made the right move

    Sources: McLaren exploring partial sale of Formula 1 team

  2. I hope RIC is, as Wayne Gretzky once said, skating to where the puck is going, not where it has been. Just because McLaren had a good year last year and finished 4th doesn’t always indicate future success. Renault finished 4th in 2018 when RIC decided to move there as well.

    1. Ricciardo also moved to Red Bull in 2014 as they started to slide backwards in the pecking order.

      1. While obviously not at the same level as before 2014, I’d say red bull has been pretty stable since then as the 3rd force and generally more organized than ferrari, held back by not making their own engine.

    2. yup. mclaren move is tougher because he rejected Ferrari.

  3. I guess him being so sensitive about the timing of his decisions indicates that his stock isn’t quite as high as it was 2-3 years ago. He needs to hassle just like everyone now innit.

  4. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    19th June 2020, 21:37

    I wonder if the culture at Red Bull, compared to other teams, is a major factor. It’s been suggested Vettel hasn’t gelled well at Ferrari and misses the atmosphere of Red Bull, so perhaps that’s an issue for Ricciardo and Renault? McLaren of late seem a much more inviting place with a style that seems to match Ricciardo’s better than the very corporate angle Renault have been taking.

    Though I do think career wise he’s jumping too early. If Renault was a project, so is McLaren – and not one that’s all that far ahead.

  5. F1oSaurus (@)
    19th June 2020, 21:37

    Renault seems like a really bad place to be. The negativity in that team is just horrible. An incompetent leader simply demanding that the team do better without actually improving how the team runs.

    It also feels like they have no idea how to solve their problems. Things just seem to happen to them and it comes as a surprise every time.

    1. My feeling about the current Renault team is that they keep changing what they say their “plan” is, so that they can then say that everything is going to plan. That is not how you build success.

    2. Renault needed the brashness and audacity of Flavio Briatore to win championships.
      In the current world, they are too political to let a Grand Prix team gel and develop harmoniously. At least Italy lets their team get on with the business of racing as opposed to being a perk for politicians.

      1. I have an opinion
        20th June 2020, 2:09

        Who, in Renault presently, is “driving” their F1 team? It had been Ghosn until he was ousted. Abiteboul has always been useless. The parent company’s shares are now rated as junk bonds. That pay cut to drive for McLaren might be a hard decision but not a foolish one.

  6. Agris Rūmītis
    19th June 2020, 23:27

    Good move Daniel! Renault are becoming somewhat Toyota-like whereas McLaren have nothing to loose – just fire up whatever they can to get back to the top. That’s the way forward! All chips on the table!

  7. If only Ferrari had dropped that boring underperforming Raikkonen earlier (2017, 2018) and gave Ric a chance, Ric could have been a 2017 or 2018 Ferrari World Champion.

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