Daniel Ricciardo says "bad blood" wasn't a reason for his shock Red Bull exit. Instead, the Australian claims decision was made because of the lack of motivation.
Ricciardo will race for Renault next season. In the build-up to the summer break, Max Verstappen and Ricciardo faced troubles in qualifying. This added to their crash in Baku. When his move was announced, fans and pundits started to speculate that he moved because Verstappen was on a much bigger and better deal.
When speaking to the media today in Belgium, he shot down these rumours.
“To be clear, there was no falling out, no bad blood with anyone in the team, with the bosses, or anyone at all,” Ricciardo said.
“I know the contract stuff, people assumed I was pretty much done with Red Bull and ready to sign but I think I’m pretty sure I said I was close to doing something but I never really said it was going to be 100% with Red Bull."
Ricciardo went on to give the real reasons behind his departure. He claimed that his frustrations on a personal level were beginning to boil over. Earlier in 2018, he won the Chinese and Monaco Grands Prix.
“There wasn’t really one key factor other than really myself and wanting to have a change of scenery. That was probably the biggest overpowering thing but it wasn’t necessarily the engine deal or financials or whatever," Ricciardo added.
“I felt at times my enjoyment of the sport was becoming a little bit dulled-down and a bit numb at times. I just felt part of the routine was causing that."
Surely the Honda deal would have removed most of these frustrations...
