CHANGING LANES
Ricciardo to leave Red Bull for Renault
>> PARIS: Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo is joining Renault from next season after quitting Red Bull, the team said in a statement.
The French Formula One team’s announcement followed shortly after Red Bull announced that their 29-year-old grand prix-winning driver was leaving the team.
“Renault Sport Formula One team is happy to confirm the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo to join Nico Hulkenberg as a driver starting from next season,” Renault said in a statement.
Ricciardo has won two grand prix in Monaco and China this season and stands fifth i n the drivers’ championship.
“Daniel Ricciardo has advised us that he is to leave the Team at the end of the 2018 season,” Red Bull posted on their website.
He is currently fifth in the 2018 season drivers’ standings.
Renault are one place behind Red Bull in the constructors standings, but they have only 82 points while thirdplace Red Bull have 223.
The French team have not won a race since rejoining Formula One three years ago.
“We fully respect Daniel’s decision to leave,” Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner said on the team website. “We wish him all the best in his future.”
Ricciardo joined the Red Bull Junior Team in 2008 and progressed through their driver development programme.
He made his Formula One debut with short-lived HRT outfit in 2011 and drove for Toro Rosso in 2012 and 2013, recording a best finish of 14th.
He switched to the flagship Red Bull team in 2013 and won seven races and recorded 29 podium finishes. He finished third in the driver standings in 2014 and 2016.
“We will now continue to evaluate the numerous options available to us before deciding on which driver partners Max Verstappen for the 2019 season,” Horner said.
“In the meantime, there are still nine races left in 2018 and we are fully focused on maximising every opportunity for Max and Daniel.”
LUNG TRANSPLANT
Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda has undergone a lung transplant following an infection picked up on vacation, Vienna’s general hospital announced on Thursday. “The transplant was successfully carried out,” said a brief statement from the hospital.
Lauda, 69, had cut short his vacation in Ibiza last week and returned to Vienna after developing a lung infection, the Osterreich newspaper reported.
Crowned world champion for the first time in 1975, Lauda cheated death the following year in a horror crash at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring which left him with severe burns.
Despite that, he would still capture further world titles in 1977 and 1984.
The poisonous gases inhaled during his 1976 accident — where rescuers took almost a minute to pull him from his burning car — have caused a steady decline in the strength of his lungs.