Red Bull confirms Ricciardo split, set to join Renault

Daniel Ricciardo will leave Red Bull at the end of the season and is set to join Renault from 2019.

The Australian driver had been stalling on confirmation of a new F1 deal with the Milton Keynes-based team but told reporters during this week’s in-season F1 test in Hungary his future would be sorted by the Belgian Grand Prix.

Multiple reports on Friday emerged linking Ricciardo to a move to Renault to signal the 29-year-old’s split from long-term backers Red Bull.

Red Bull has confirmed Ricciardo's departure in an official statement with team boss Christian Horner commenting on the split.

“We fully respect Daniel’s decision to leave Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and we wish him all the best in his future,” Horner said. “We would like to thank him for his dedication and the role he has played since joining the Team in 2014, the highlights of course being the seven wins and the 29 podiums he has achieved so far with us.

With Ricciardo’s future expected to be officially announced soon, it would open up the F1 driver market which could see Carlos Sainz move in the opposite direction from Renault to Red Bull.

Sainz is on loan at the French manufacturer this season from Red Bull while he has also courted attention from McLaren for a potential 2019 switch.

“We will now continue to evaluate the numerous options available to us before deciding on which driver partners Max Verstappen for the 2019 season,” Horner added. “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.”

Ricciardo had initially delayed his F1 future decision waiting for Red Bull’s engine confirmation which arrived in June, seeing the team ditch Renault power for Honda from next season.

Red Bull has already tied down Max Verstappen to a long term deal with Christian Horner aiming to build the team around the 20-year-old.

Both Verstappen and Ricciardo have won one race each this year, with the Australian fifth in the F1 world drivers’ championship and his teammate in sixth in the standings.