Ricciardo and Webber clear the air over Piastri saga

Daniel Ricciardo says a conciliatory Mark Webber checked up on him at Zandvoort, where the pair cleared the air over the Oscar Piastri saga.

Ricciardo and McLaren's decision to split at the end of the year is directly related to Webber's dealings with the Woking-based outfit as Piastri's manager.

With clarity on the matter involving the young Aussie and Alpine finally provided by the FIA's Contract Recognition Board last Friday, Webber, who was present at Zandvoort for his Channel 4 duties, sought out Ricciardo on Sunday morning before the Dutch Grand Prix to express his personal feelings about the saga and where it had unfortunately left his countryman.

"We hadn't seen obviously each other in person," explained Ricciardo.

"I feel he didn't need to, but he felt like he wanted to, in a way, apologise and try to just see how I'm doing.

"Obviously I know how this sport is: it's nothing personal to me. And he wanted to make sure that I knew that and understood that. And just to make sure that I felt okay.

"He feels really bad, obviously… how it's gone down and obviously how things have been put out there in the media. So yeah, it was obviously nice to speak to him."

Ricciardo also revealed that he had a private conversation with Piastri to ensure the young gun that there was no bad blood between the pair.

"I've also spoken to Oscar, to be honest, and just made sure that there's no bad feelings there. I understand how this works," he added.

"He's trying to make it: he's trying to get into Formula 1. And this moment should be also really big for him. I don't want to make it a bad situation for him.

"That's that: it's nothing personal. So that's all the conversation was. And I truly do wish him well. I want him to have a good run in Formula 1.

"So it's just the circumstances and that's how it is. But I still obviously like Mark a lot and respect him."

• Read also: Ricciardo says next F1 career decision can't be an 'emotional' one

Ricciardo said that he made it a point of speaking to Piastri because he feared that an eventual lack of communication would leave the latter with an impression of antagonism or resentment on the part of departing McLaren driver.

"If there's no communication, you never know what someone's feeling or thinking," Ricciardo said.

"Obviously he's a lot younger than me. I don't know how he feels: if he's nervous to reach out and see how I'm doing.

"Also, I wanted to make sure that it was clear that I understand his position. And absolutely no hard feelings.

"So that was good. I think it made him feel better. And yeah, I think the last thing he wanted was to have some weird tension between a few of the only Australians in this sport. So I'm glad that we've done that."

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