MOTORSPORT: The rationale for Ricciardo's switch

Daniel Ricciardo’s switch to Renault is a gamble that the French manufacturer’s factory Formula 1 team, rather than Red Bull Racing, is going to be the main challenger to Mercedes and Ferrari in the next couple of years.

Ricciardo will be leaving behind an Adrian Newey chassis – which has been the best asset in the era of V6 hybrids if you haven’t had a works Mercedes or Ferrari – for the team that, more than any, has invested in engineering in recent times.

Since its return as a fully-fledged manufacturer entry in 2016, having taken back control of the team that had been operating as Lotus but was owned by a Luxembourg-based investment company, Renault – world champion manufacturer in 2005 and ’06 – has quietly worked its way back up to fourth in the constructors’ world championship.

It’s still a distant fourth at this stage, with less than 40 per cent of the points that RBR, using Renault’s power units, has scored so far this year – 82 compared to 223, while Mercedes has 345 and Ferrari 335.

But Renault is a team making progress – unlike Force India, which is beset by ownership issues that could sink it if not sorted within the next couple of weeks, while McLaren and Williams are merely a shadow of the powerhouses they once were.

Perhaps the only other realistic option for carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo to make his “fresh start” would have been American team Haas, which is a brilliant fifth in the constructors’ standings in just its third season and with the Ferrari power unit that now seems to be the best in the sport.

But why go to a Ferrari ‘satellite’ squad while the Italian factory either installs a 20-year-old with little experience, Charles Leclerc, next season or keeps an ageing Kimi Raikkonen content to be a ‘bridesmaid’ to Sebastian Vettel.

The unknown at RBR beyond this year is how good Honda’s power unit will be when married to a Newey chassis.

There have been signs of progress from the Japanese manufacturer’s hybrid in the chassis of Red Bull’s secondary team Toro Rosso this year, and certainly Honda is willing to spend money, but there is no sign of a new Osamu Goto, the man who led the engineering team that produced the magnificent Honda engines for Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

There is an unknown at Renault too, with long-time technical director Bob Bell transitioning at 60 years of age – just a year older than Newey – to a part-time advisory role. Ricciardo will have had the new set-up explained to him and must be satisfied with it.

And with Renault having invested so heavily in its engineering since its return it may be the team most likely to unearth the next genius. The one who makes the big difference. The new Newey?

It may be 2020 rather than next year before the full benefits of Renault’s investment and the hiring of Ricciardo come to fruition.

Although its power unit might never have the output of those from Ferrari and Mercedes, Renault always looks to improve driveability.

And Ricciardo will appreciate a more complete focus on track success rather than the distractions of Red Bull’s never-ending publicity stunts.

He will be paired with perhaps the best teammate he could have – German Nico Hulkenberg, just a little older than him at 30, and already ‘best of the rest’ – seventh in this year’s drivers’ world championship behind the six men in Mercs (Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas), Ferraris (Vettel and Raikkonen) and RBRs (Ricciardo and Max Verstappen).

While Ricciardo is a seven-time GP victor in 4½ years at RBR, Hulkenberg hasn’t had the equipment – at Williams, Sauber, Force India or Renault yet – to notch a win, but there are no doubts about his ability and he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car classic in his one outing there with Porsche in 2015.

They should pair harmoniously to take Renault much further forward.

Although Ricciardo would be the easiest teammate to work with in modern F1, inevitably he must have felt under-valued, even undermined, by RBR’s favouritism towards 20-year-old Verstappen – especially in throwing a mega-contract at him last year.

Not that Ricciardo’s priority is money; he wants to be world champion.

But, with his record, why should he accept less than Verstappen?

In any case, he will be handily remunerated by Renault.

"I felt it was a time now where it was good for me to move on and have a fresh start somewhere else,” Ricciardo said.

“I think it will be healthy for me – so excited for what lies ahead with Renault.

“Sad to move on, absolutely. It’s been a 10-year journey in Red Bull [since the energy drink company’s sponsorship of him began in the junior ranks in Europe in 2008].”

And, before the switch at the end of this season, “we’ve got nine races left [in 2018] to kick some arse, so let’s get it”.

Then it will be on to try to get the Regie back to the top.
For all of Red Bull’s criticism of its engine partner through the hybrid era, and Ricciardo’s own frustrations, he can see a big picture.

“I know that each time Renault has been in the sport they eventually won,” he said.

Renault took Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the two greatest drivers since Senna’s death, to world titles -- even if in Schumi’s time it was called Benetton.

It powered Vettel’s four consecutive world titles at the end of the last V8 era.

Maybe Ricciardo can achieve his dream at Renault.
If not in the next two years, he’ll still be only 31 – and with time still to climb F1’s Everest.