Daniel Ricciardo: “The right time for a new start”

The information was made official yesterday: Daniel Ricciardo leave Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2018 season for get involved with Renault Sport F1 Team for the next two seasons. 

A somewhat surprising announcement, because we thought the Australian had left to extend with the Milton Keynes team. But the time for change had come for the man who joined the Austrian brand's major team in 2014, at the start of the era of V6 turbo/hybrid Power Units.

“It’s from afar the hardest decision that I had to take in my career, comments Ricciardo in a video posted on social networks. In 29 years, it was even one of the hardest. I'm sad to move on, clearly, and excited for the challenge with Renault.

It has been a ten-year adventure with Red Bull, starting with the Junior program in 2008 and with great memories. These are things I will be grateful for and I will never forget this passage.

Personally, I think it was good time for me to have a fresh start elsewhere. I'm excited about what awaits me with Renault and I want to thank Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, the company for everything they have done for me. I appreciate this from the bottom of my heart. We have nine more races to kick ass. »

Since his arrival at Red Bull Racing in 2014, after two full seasons at Toro Rosso, which followed his Grand Prix debut with HRT in 2011, the former British champion F3 and vice-champion Formula Renault 3.5 had scored seven victories and 29 podiums in his career.

Teammate of Sebastian Vettel in 2014, the Australian overtook the four-time world champion Germany in the general classification, finishing 3rd with three victories. After an unsuccessful season in 2015, Ricciardo returned to success at Sepang in 2016, before scoring a victory in Baku last year and two in 2018 in China and Monaco.

It now remains to know the name of Ricciardo's replacement at Red Bull Racing to support Max Verstappen in 2019, the time also chosen by Milton Keynes to change engine manufacturer with the arrival of the Honda engine block.

Pierre Gasly et Carlos Sainz, members of the Red Bull fold and current starters at Toro Rosso and Renault, appear as two potential solutions for Christian Horner's team.