LEAVING THE GLORY TO ESTEBAN

One of the most interesting aspects of Ricciardo’s decision is that by choosing to leave Renault at the end of 2020 he will be exiting a team that has just installed a highly rated young star in Esteban Ocon. Ricciardo left Red Bull just as Max Verstappen was beginning to gain a decisive upper hand at that team, and some will no doubt suggest this is a version of history repeating itself.

That would be rather disingenuous to

Ricciardo given Renault’s 2020 line-up hasn’t raced yet thanks to the pandemic delays. But Renault has long targeted Ocon. He was in and around the operation as far back as 2016, when as newly crowned GP3 champion he became the squad’s reserve driver despite his Mercedes ties, and Renault subsequently jettisoned Nico Hülkenberg to bring Ocon in on a two-year deal despite Hülkenberg enjoying a decent 2019 season alongside Ricciardo.

In the past ten years only once, in 2011, have the Enstone squad’s drivers finished the season with similar points totals, so it may well be that Ricciardo balanced this against Ocon’s potential, the team’s keenness to bring Ocon in, and Ricciardo’s own lucrative deal ending soon, and made a decisive call given there is so much positivity surrounding Mclaren.

At the same time, a return to F1’s Class A was effectively closed to Ricciardo. Ferrari, despite maintaining contact for several years now, picked Sainz to partner long-term star Charles Leclerc, and Red Bull is committed to giving Alexander Albon a shot at keeping his place for 2021. Sainz’s deal also ended any remote chance of Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes at the end of 2020, and rumours that Renault has sounded out Valtteri Bottas about joining a team he was linked to previously in 2016 only surfaced after Ricciardo made his call to leave, so the chances of a Mercedes ‘swap’ deal were always remote.

Ricciardo has given up effective lead-driver status at a works operation, which may sound odd but makes sense given the current climate in the automotive industry – to which his current team is inexorably tied.