Daniel Ricciardo’s 10th place in the Turkish Grand Prix may have been a minor slip up, but the Australian star is enjoying one of his best seasons in Formula 1 in years.
In the final week of the season, before the final three events end the shortened 17-race World Championship, Ricciardo and Renault’s relationship ends and the Aussie moves to McLaren next season.
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After a terrible first season with Renault, Ricciardo has experienced a resurgent 2020 season, finishing with points in 11 of the 14 races so far, including two podiums at the historic F1 venues of Nürburgring and Imola.
It was a welcome return to form for Ricciardo, who may be on his way to his best season since finishing third in the championship with Red Bull in the 2016 season.
While Ricciardo dropped from fourth to sixth in the championship with his tenth place finish in Turkey as Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc scored points, the Aussie is just four points away from fourth and the final three races are still pending.
But those three races will also be his last in a Renault, with the move to McLaren, who will switch to Mercedes engines next season, which will be determined before the late start of the F1 season.
Ricciardo has said time and time again that he has no regrets signing with McLaren, but Renault Sports Director Alan Permane has shown the appreciation Renault has for the 31-year-old despite his move.
Speaking on the Beyond the grid On the podcast, Permane said Ricciardo was among the top 4 in the sport, along with Red Bulls Max Verstappen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
“I only speak of what I see. [which is] the same as everyone else see – okay, I’ve seen a bit more of Daniel, but there he is, there is Lewis, there is Charles, and there is Max. I think these four are a different level, ”Permane told Beyond the grid podcast.
“In and out of the car you don’t meet many people who are exactly right in both directions. Daniel did a great job building a very strong team around him in terms of tech, his mechanics and the people in the garage. “
Permane said young teammate Esteban Ocon was learning from the Aussie, but if Renault had their way they would convince Ricciardo to turn back McLaren.
“Before COVID, when he came to the factory and the whole team was gathered in the racing shop, you could say that everyone only has love for him,” Permane said. “And I tell him every week that it’s not too late to change your mind. Seriously, I do.
“Of course it’s a wink and I know he can’t change his mind and he doesn’t even pretend to consider it out of respect for his new team and all.
“But who knows, if this had been a normal season and people hadn’t thought about team changes before we’d even turned a wheel, who knows where we’d be now?”
Ricciardo’s departure gave Renault the opportunity to welcome two-time world champion Fernando Alonso back.
While Renault would have liked to stick with Ricciardo, he admitted the season was the most rewarding since the 2016 season.
“My enjoyment is very high at the moment, I love racing and I think that was reinforced by the nature of the lockdown and the lack of competition for a longer off-season,” said Ricciardo.
“After I took it away, my desire to come back has obviously gotten much stronger.
“And yes, it was cool and you are probably right. 2016 was a really good year that I can remember with Red Bull. It’s probably the best or most satisfying since then.”
Ricciardo had since gone through the alarm clock and had left Red Bull after eight failures in his final season with the team.
In 2019, Renault fought with Ricciardo in ninth place in the championship and the team that was far behind McLaren in terms of “the best of the others”.
Despite the shortened season, Ricciardo already has more points than the team last year and is in a four-way dogfight with Racing Point, McLaren and Ferrari as all teams are separated by 24 points.
“I think last year (2018) at Red Bull was the most difficult emotionally because at the beginning of the year it looked like I was competing for a world championship and then I realized in the middle of the year that I wanted to keep going . and then towards the end of the year it was DNF after DNF, ”said Ricciardo.
“There was a lot of emotion this year. To this day I think that this was the most difficult year emotionally for me and how it played with me a bit.
“Last year was still fun, even though we didn’t really get the results we wanted, it was still fun building up with a new team.
“This year has definitely been more fun because this building has produced some really good results.”
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