‘Selfish’ Daniel Ricciardo has permanent ‘timing problem’ in F1 career

A former F1 boss has labelled Daniel Ricciardo “selfish” and called out an uncomfortable truth about the Aussie’s career choices.

Daniel Ricciardo’s departure from Renault wasn’t too pleasant. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

Former F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul says Daniel Ricciardo’s decision to leave Renault was “selfish”, adding that the Australian has a habit of making poor career choices.

Ricciardo shocked Formula One when he left Red Bull at the end of 2018 and signed a two-year deal with Renault.

His first season with the French outfit was a disaster, resulting in him signing a three-year contract with McLaren before the start of his second season with Renault.

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Ricciardo claimed two podium finishes in a pandemic-affected season with Renault in 2020 and won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix with McLaren, the lone high point with the team before he was replaced by Oscar Piastri with a year to run on his contract.

Ricciardo has since returned to the grid with AlphaTauri and is targeting a return to Red Bull in 2025 after Sergio Perez’s contract expires.

Speaking on the Dans La Boîte À Gants podcast, Abiteboul said he felt blindsided by Ricciardo’s decision to leave Renault so soon.

“He makes his decision in April or May; the world is at a standstill, we don’t know how we’re going to get back on track, if we’re going to get back on track,” he said.

“In fact, I think it’s a very early move, a bit selfish – because in the end, it will have given the team just one season’s chance, and so it’s true that it’s a decision that I’m taking badly. Badly.”

Daniel Ricciardo and Cyril Abiteboul in happier times during together at Renault. (Photo by PETER PARKS / AFP).

Asked if he took Ricciardo’s decision to heart, Abiteboul said: “Of course, because I can see that it’s a personal rejection. I take it completely personally. I accept it. And I can see what the consequences are going to be too.

“The team was in the process of structuring itself and getting organised. We’re making progress, but that means we’re not at Red Bull’s level. He came from the standard environment, Red Bull, and so inevitably there was a feeling of being demoted.

“It was difficult for him psychologically. In 2019, the Baku Grand Prix was absolutely horrendous, with him making mistake after mistake. In short, he’s completely out of his depth, and that’s complicated for us.

“I didn’t think it would be this difficult in 2019 and, conversely, I didn’t think that in 2020 there would be Covid, a global pandemic that would block us, and during which he would decide to end his contract at the end of the year. I obviously don’t see that happening.

“And I don’t see it happening either that we [would] have such a good year in 2020, all the same, with podiums and a car that once again, by making a few less mistakes, could [have finished] third in the standings.

“After that, at some point you have to bounce back. And it’s complicated because we issue very cold, very harsh press releases where you can feel the feeling. What’s more, Netflix is probably filming the show (Drive to Survive) at the time, so they’re telling it differently afterwards.

The former Renault boss took Ricciardo’s departure to heart. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)

“And the season didn’t turn out at all as we’d imagined, it turned out much better than we’d expected. But at the same time, we set out to do something else. We set off on projects, [signing] Fernando Alonso [as Ricciardo’s replacement].

“I’m completely switching to something else, and I don’t think we had the slightest opportunity to discuss whether [Ricciardo] regretted it, whether we regretted it… In any case, once I’m gone, I’m gone.

“I don’t think [Ricciardo] could have imagined the car making such progress, and neither could we. I can also understand his strategy. McLaren sold him a bit of a bill of goods to get him, but that’s part of the game.

“Ricciardo always has a timing problem: he left us too early and he left McLaren too early.”

That final comment about Ricciardo’s timing is particularly stinging, given McLaren has now emerged as the closest challenger to Red Bull in the championship with Piastri and Lando Norris regularly finishing on the podium in the second half of the season.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner recently revealed he thought Ricciardo was “taking the p***” when he told him he was leaving at the end of 2018.

Daniel Ricciardo is now driving for AlphaTauri. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

Abiteboul left Renault at the end of 2020 and believes it was too soon to sign a driver of Ricciardo’s calibre while the midfield team was still developing.

“I know deep down that it’s too soon, even if we can’t say to him: ‘Come back next year’,” he reflected.

“That evening, I went to my favourite restaurant in Marseille with my partner and I said to her: ‘Tonight, we toast two things. One, to the fact that we’ve signed Ricciardo, who’s a great driver. Two, to the fact that in two years’ time, I’ll be sacked’

“Because you sign a two-year contract and I knew that this would ultimately highlight the fact that the team wasn’t yet at the required level and that this could potentially be interpreted as a bad decision.

“Once again, today I have mixed feelings, but on the other hand I didn’t screw up my forecasts.”

Abiteboul is currently the team principal of Hyundai’s World Rally Championship outfit.

As part of a bet for Ricciardo getting on the podium with Renault, Abiteboul got a tattoo of Renault’s logo intertwined with a honey badger (Ricciardo’s nickname) on his calf.

Abiteboul and Ricciardo have been on good terms and since buried the hatchet, but these latest comments show just how much Ricciardo's departure hurt the Frenchman.

The F1 season continues with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday at 5pm AEST.