Just yesterday, Red Bull released a video entitled ‘Road Trip USA’ with Daniel Ricciardo driving an F1 car around some iconic American vistas. It ends with him driving up to a Las Vegas hotel, walking away with a glint in his eye, fading to black with ‘To be continued…’ Maybe he was heading to the blackjack tables with Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul?!
As July ticked into August, we all expected Ricciardo to sign a new Red Bull deal for the future under enhanced terms. But today’s news, that he’s off to pastures new with Renault, is a genuine bombshell.
Coming so soon after the latest escalation in Red Bull and Renault hostility, you wonder if that has been a trigger for the latter to have the last laugh by poaching a crown jewel from under its nose. Abiteboul was clearly livid on Sunday when told (by Motorsport.com’s Adam Cooper) what Red Bull's Christian Horner had said live on Sky.
On one hand, you can speculate that Ricciardo has chased the coin. With options at Mercedes and Ferrari closed, and perhaps the fear that Max Verstappen is the Red Bull’s true chosen one, maybe this was Hobson’s choice – but with more money?
On the other, Lewis Hamilton signed for the factory Mercedes team when it was only the fifth-best team in F1. Renault is currently fourth…
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