Daniel Ricciardo Leaving Red Bull, To Sign With Renault For 2019

Red Bull Racing have confirmed Daniel Ricciardo will leave the team at the end of the 2018 season after failing to reach an agreement with them over an extension.

He departs the Austrian team ten years after joining the Red Bull Junior team. Ricciardo joined the Red Bull F1 team in 2014 after two years with the sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso and he brought them seven victories, 29 podium finishes, two pole positions and 904 championship points.

“Daniel Ricciardo has advised us that he is to leave the Team at the end of the 2018 season,” the Red Bull team released a statement on their official site Friday.

Ricciardo was expected to stay with Red Bull especially after it became clear there was no place for him at either Mercedes or Ferrari. It is still unclear which team he will sign for, but an announcement is likely to be made sooner rather than later.

However, the Daily Mail reported he is set sign a deal with the Renault works team for the 2019 season. He is also said to have held talks with McLaren, but snubbed their offer.

It is claimed Ricciardo felt unloved by the Red Bull team after they made Max Verstappen their number one driver after handing him a lucrative new deal in 2017. Christian Horner — the Red Bull team principal — has stated previously they are looking to build the team around the young Dutchman, who is touted as a future world champion.

The Australian outperformed Verstappen in their first full season together at Red Bull in 2017 and is again ahead of him after 12 races in the 2018 season. Despite that, the Dutch driver is favored over Ricciardo at times, which supposedly did not sit well with the latter.

Ricciardo’s reported move to Renault will see him take Carlos Sainz’s seat and partner Nico Hulkenburg in 2019. The Spaniard, who was on loan at Renault from Red Bull, is likely to return to his parent team.

However, the Mail seems to indicate Ricciardo’s arrival will open the door for Sainz to join McLaren for the 2019 campaign, which leaves a vacancy at Red Bull for the 2019 season.

“We will now continue to evaluate the numerous options available to us before deciding on which driver partners Max Verstappen for the 2019 season. In the meantime, there are still nine races left in 2018 and we are fully focused on maximising every opportunity for Max and Daniel for the remainder of the season,” the statement added.

The news of Ricciardo’s sudden change of heart comes as a massive surprise especially after the driver himself suggested he was close to reaching an agreement with Red Bull after the race in Hungary on Sunday.

“I was just making it up so you guys would stop asking me,” Ricciardo said earlier this week. “It’ll definitely be done by Spa so whether it gets announced over the break or at Spa but it’s just a little bit of fine-tuning.”

“It’s all good. You will hear something soon I’m sure,” the Red Bull Racing driver added.

Mercedes, meanwhile, are the only team on the grid that has a confirmed lineup for the 2019 F1 season. All the other nine teams including Ferrari are yet to make a decision and Ricciardo’s announcement could get the ball rolling at least in terms of the midfield teams, namely, McLaren, Renault and Force India.