Ricciardo: Bad luck will ‘dissolve’ after 2018

Daniel Ricciardo is confident his run of bad luck during the 2018 Formula 1 season will “dissolve” when he joins Renault next year.

The Red Bull driver enjoyed a strong start to the current campaign but has endured a torrid run of reliability issues in the second half of the year.

As a result, Ricciardo has not been on the podium since he won the Monaco Grand Prix in May, though he looked primed to end that run in Mexico until suffering his eighth retirement of the year.

Ricciardo is hopeful his luck will change once he joins up with midfield leaders Renault heading into 2019.

“After 2018 the bad luck is just going to dissolve,” Ricciardo said.

“The bad luck will stay in 2018. Look, I am certainly excited for a change and a new challenge.

“But whether I’d had a run of good races or the run I’ve had, it would not actually change my feeling about where I am going next year.

“Even before this run of misfortune I was already looking and tempted to move on and have something different. I don’t see it any different now.

“Part of me, as excited as I am to try and have a good result in the final races, I am also just excited to get the year finished and start fresh with a new team next year.”

Five of Ricciardo’s retirements have come in the last nine races, while Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen has enjoyed a strong run of results which has seen him score the second most amount of points behind champion Lewis Hamilton in the last 10 rounds.