Daniel Ricciardo hasn't made any decisions on 2021 drive

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo hasn't made any decisions on 2021 drive

Could he move?

Martin Macdonald

Wednesday 18 September 2019 08:35

Daniel Ricciardo insists that he has not made any decisions with regards to who he will drive with after his current deal with Renault expires.

The Australian signed with the French team ahead of the 2019 campaign, leaving Red Bull after a decade-long association through the junior ranks and into F1.

Renault had hopes of becoming more competitive with, and perhaps even challenging, the top three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull.

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However, Ricciardo and team-mate Nico Hulkenberg have been left frustrated with constant engine reliability issues, leaving them languishing lower down in the championship.

Even though new regulations are going to come into play in 2021 which will aim to level the playing field, Ricciardo hasn’t confirmed he is staying with Renault beyond his current deal.

"I definitely haven't made any decisions yet," Ricciardo admitted to BBC Sport.

"I haven't had this discussion with Cyril. I don't want to speak for him, but he's frustrated with this year.

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"I think part of him feels like - I don't want to say [he feels] he's let us down, but we did expect to do better.

"When we chatted last year, there were higher hopes for this year. We're confident next year is going to be a lot better, but he's thinking probably: 'If it doesn't go [better], why would Daniel want to stay?' That's probably where his head's at and that's probably where those comments come from.”

Ricciardo was referring to comments made by team principal Cyril Abiteboul which suggested the recent acquisition of Esteban Ocon was not only to replace Hulkenberg, but perhaps Ricciardo too if the Australian became unhappy at their current lack of competitiveness.