Daniel Ricciardo says the statement he released last week on social media was about letting everyone know "from the horse's mouth" that he'll be racing in Formula 1 next season with McLaren.
A wave of speculation was swirling around the Aussie about his future in F1 given his struggles and disappointing results with McLaren.
But the team's test programme involving IndyCar chargers Pato O'Ward and Colton Herta, not to mention McLaren's public commitment to Arrow McLaren SP recruit Alex Palou regarding an F1 test, added to the perception of uncertainty of Ricciardo's future.
The 32-year-old felt compelled to shut down "the noise" and send a clear message to his fans, but more importantly to McLaren's crews, that he has no intention of walking away from the team or F1.
"There’s a lot of noise, rumours, people kind of questioning, coming up with their own answers. It was just kind of building I guess," Ricciardo said ahead of this weekend's French Grand Prix.
"I was like ‘I’m just going to let everyone know’. I think also for people that follow me and my supporters, if you will – ‘what’s Daniel going to do, is this going to be it?’
"I was like ‘No, it’s time to let everyone know from the horse’s mouth’.
"All these race teams, there’s hundreds of people that work from the factory that don’t come trackside and don’t get to see everything, don’t get to see me on a race weekend as well, the work I’m putting in.
"Also for them, if they’re reading headlines on ‘What’s Daniel’s future?’ ‘Is he going to move to another team again?’
"For them, if they’re trying to develop the car for me and they’re like ‘What’s Daniel going to do?’, I just wanted to remove any doubt from them.
"I wanted to address them and be like ‘I’m in this with you’. I wanted to draw a line under that."
Asked if his motivation is suffering from his disappointing results, Ricciardo said that any mental setback is short-lived.
"Long story short, no," he said.
"Even if it’s a Q1 exit, the frustration is like, 'this again,’ or ‘how am I out in Q1?’ For sure there is a frustration, and I’ve admitted sometimes that in a way, I hate the sport, because you just deal with these highs and lows so often.
"But I feel like the days that I also can find myself in a way hating it, I also love it, because the feeling that I get and what that does and how that ignites me, and I guess that feeling in my gut, it’s like, I actually love this.
"Of course, I would love to just be on the top all the time, whatever, but the feeling I get is still real, even through those lows.
"That belief and everything that I get, as soon as the emotion and that wave of frustration blows over, give it 10 minutes, half an hour, whatever it is, I’m then like, once I reset, like yeah, I still want this.
"I still believe I can do it. The day I retire is the day that I lose that feeling, is the day that I lose that belief and will to want to keep doing it.
"I truly feel like I’m still pretty far from that."
Ricciardo added that following his message, McLaren's top brass had expressed once again their support for his efforts.
"They see me pretty much every race weekend," he said. "After maybe a bad weekend, I also feel like it’s on me to let them know that I’m not happy with the weekend, I’m still pushing for this, I’m working hard and I want to do this etc.
"I guess they see it, but people working behind the scenes at the factory, just making sure that they still know my commitment is there."
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