©Renault
Renault cul-de-sac, and a new opportunity
In hindsight, Ricciardo's decision to go to Renault should not have come as all that big a surprise; but at the time the shock in pit lane meant that you could hear the sound of jaws dropping to the ground even over the noise of engines firing up in the garage. When the new season started, all eyes were on Ricciardo to see whether it had been a brilliant strategic choice by the Aussie, or a terrible mistake.
It didn't start well, with Ricciardo taking time early in the season to get to grips with the different handling and braking of the unfamiliar R.S.19 after all that time at Red Bull. It allowed his team mate Nico Hulkenberg to get the early upper hand. But eventually Ricciardo was feeling more comfortable and regularly seeing off his team mate in race trim, finishing the year with a comfortable advantage in the drivers standings. Yet for all that, Ricciardo was still only ninth in the final rankings. Moreover Renault finished well behind a resurgent McLaren who were using the same power units: ironically, McLaren had themselves tried but narrowly failed to sign up Ricciardo's services the previous year.
The self-proclaimed honey badger is clearly no longer content to be "cute and cuddly" and it's time for him to "turn into a bit of a savage" instead.
As far as Ricciardo was concerned, Renault was simply not living up to its promises to improve reliability and performance, and his grumbling about the squad's lack of progress not being good enough was clearly heard by all. Renault principal Cyril Abiteboul acknowledged that the team would have to do better and that it would be difficult to persuade Ricciardo to stay beyond the end of 2020. His words proved prophetic, and Ricciardo was quick to reconsider his 2018 decision when the bosses at Woking came calling a second time, during the extended coronavirus shutdown period. The promise of McLaren's own imminent switch from Renault engines to the preeminent Mercedes power units in 2021 must have been a decisive factor.
Renault's fury has been palpable with its pointed jab about "reciprocated confidence, unity and commitment [being], more than ever, critical values for a works team". But Ricciardo's decision to bail out of Enstone only underlines how serious he is about winning the world championship while there's still time, and he clearly doesn't think Renault is up to the job of achieving the task. At 30 years old Ricciardo still has plenty of time on his hands to win the title - but one more stumble, one more setback and he could find himself ejected from the sport with his dream unfulfilled. “My longevity in the sport will be dictated on how competitive I am," he said earlier this year during pre-season testing: "I can say today I want to be done by 35."
Next year, McLaren will be fielding two of the most lively and exuberant drivers on the grid when Ricciardo is joined by Lando Norris. One can only hope that Zak Brown and Andreas Seidl have locked up all the Haribo confectionary in the McLaren motor home! But for all the fun and jokes and trademark high-beam grin that can be seen from outer space, no one should underestimate Ricciardo's determination to finally clinch the title. In his own words, the self-proclaimed honey badger is clearly no longer content to be "cute and cuddly" and it's instead time for him to "turn into a bit of a savage."
