Breaking news
Formula 1
Ricciardo: Staying at Red Bull Honda was riskier option
New Renault Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo says the “risk of failure” would have been greater if he stayed with Red Bull and its new engine partner Honda for 2019.
Scott Mitchell Jonathan Noble
Edited: Feb 11, 2022, 9:06 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Ricciardo’s shock Red Bull departure was the one of the biggest stories of last season as he opted to join the Renault works team despite enduring reliability problems with the French manufacturer.
Renault has swiftly improved since returning to F1 as a team in 2016, finishing fourth in the constructors’ championship last year, but Ricciardo is still unlikely to challenge his former team or Mercedes and Ferrari for victories this season.
Read Also:
“There is a bit of a gamble with it but the more I think about it I don't see it too much as a gamble in terms of [comparison] with Red Bull,” said Ricciardo.
“We’re not coming in the team saying we're going to win, so the expectation and the bar is not initially very high, whereas at Red Bull every year we kind of built ourselves up because we’d won in the past.
“Every year you kind of feel it's going to happen and the risk is being let down every year. I feel like the risk of failure [staying at Red Bull] is greater than coming here and having the risk of not winning, if that makes sense.
“Out of the two options they both have some risk, but with risk comes reward and because the growth here is potentially a lot bigger I feel that the reward can certainly be bigger here and the ability to become less frustrated is better here.”
More on Ricciardo's Renault move:
- Ricciardo: Renault not lacking compared to Red Bull
- Ricciardo: Renault's engine promise backed up by numbers
- Ricciardo: Red Bull's handling of Baku crash a factor in exit
After committing to Renault, Ricciardo went on to endure a torrid reliability record over the second half of 2018.
However, he says it did not give him any “second thoughts” about his decision as he believes Red Bull was responsible for some of the problems and Honda is still not a proven alternative.
“I feel a lot of the failures were pretty 50/50,” Ricciardo said. “I think Austin was a Renault failure and the week after at Mexico was a Red Bull failure.
“But no, I didn't really have second thoughts and again there were a lot of unknowns with Honda as well.
“It was tough because on one hand Honda is new hope for the team, but it's also an unknown in many respects.
“Renault still haven't got to where they want to be from a power unit point of view and since 2014 they've been really trying to play catch up. You can't deny that every mistake they do make they are going to learn from that.
“I'm sure there’s still probably going to be some mistakes that they’ll make but I feel like they're ticking them off, and I feel that probably Honda still has more of those things to tick off.”
For PRIME users:
Daniel Ricciardo, Renault Sport F1 Team
Photo by: Renault Sport
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Norris: Sim racing can make me a better F1 driver
Next article Racing Point RP19 breaks cover in Barcelona F1 test
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Daniel Ricciardo
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Formula 1
Formula 1
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
WEC
WEC
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
More from
Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
9 h
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
17 h
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Latest news
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
34 min
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
2 h
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
6 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe