Ricciardo has “no regrets” about Renault F1 switch

Daniel Ricciardo insists he has “no regrets” about his move to Renault following a difficult start to the 2019 Formula 1 season.

It took the Australian three races to register his first points finish for the French manufacturer, and after a pair of strong results in Monaco and Canada, Ricciardo has not scored at the last two rounds.

Renault currently sits 20 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship, while his former team Red Bull claimed its first victory of the season in Austria as Max Verstappen turned in a remarkable charge through the field following a poor start.

Asked if he had any regrets about his move from Red Bull after seeing Verstappen win, Ricciardo replied: “Honestly no regrets.

“Part of me was pretty happy for them, and for F1 to just have a good race. It went through a lot of scrutiny after France, so just for the sport to have a good race was awesome.

“But no, honestly, if I look back, by that time last year, Red Bull had three wins; that was the first.

“Obviously I’m further back at the moment, absolutely, you’re right but I expected this and really, if I stayed at Red Bull it was to win a title and sure, they got the win last weekend but they’re still a fair way from the title.

“And that’s not having a dig, that’s just the reality. So I don’t think I would necessarily have achieved anything else than I was already achieving there, so for that, yeah, no regrets.”

Ricciardo said he realises the scale of the challenge he faces at Renault but acknowledges it was always going to be a long-term project.

“Obviously trying to build something here with Renault and absolutely there’s still a lot of work to do,” Ricciardo explained.

“But equally it’s pretty fulfilling when you do get a little bit of a result and Montreal was one of those moments where, it kind of… even that result alone made the first seven or so races worth it, with the little bit of struggle and ups and downs.

“So yeah, but for the sport, honestly, I’m very happy that the last race went the way it did and hopefully there’s more like that.

“Hopefully I’m not running in 12th, or wherever I was, because that’s also not fun – but hopefully the battle at the front gets close and says close.”