Formula 1: What Cyril Abiteboul won’t admit about Daniel Ricciardo

It’s not hard to see what Cyril Abiteboul is hiding about Daniel Ricciardo, especially when he discussed replacing him for the 2021 Formula 1 season.

In a 2018-2019 Silly Season that featured just eight of 20 drivers staying put, including only two pairs of teammates, while six switched teams and six more arrived in Formula 1 to replace six others, the most shocking move was announced in early August during the summer break.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo announced that he would be moving to Renault on a two-year deal starting in the 2019 season, giving up his ride with a winning team to compete in the mid-pack, presumably with the hope of continuing Renault’s recent growth and getting them to the front of the pack.

But in 2019, Renault did not have much success. In fact, they regressed noticeably from 2018 when they won the “best of the rest” title both with Nico Hulkenberg as their top driver and as a constructor.

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They finished well behind customer team McLaren for the “best of the rest” constructor title, and it was McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr., ironically the driver who Ricciardo replaced, who won the “best of the rest” driver title in his first year driving for the Woking-based team.

Additionally, he did it with a sixth place finish in the driver standings, not a seventh, the highest finish for a non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver since 2015.

But still, Ricciardo brought the team a lot of the success that they did have. He finished as the higher of the team’s two drivers, ahead of reigning “best of the rest” Hulkenberg, in ninth place in the driver standings (Hulkenberg tied for 13th). He notably finished ahead of McLaren rookie Lando Norris, and he secured a season-high finish of fourth in the Italian Grand Prix, also ahead of Hulkenberg.

Hulkenberg is set to be replaced by Esteban Ocon ahead of the 2020 season via a deal that was confirmed by the French marque in late August.

But even more surprisingly, speaking of the team’s future, managing director Cyril Abiteboul seemed to hint that the 2020 season will be Ricciardo’s final season in black and yellow, as he is targeting a younger driver to replace him alongside the 23-year-old Ocon.

Here is what Abiteboul had to say about the matter shortly after confirming that Ocon would replace Hulkenberg in 2020, according to RaceFans.

"“It was important when given the opportunity to seize the opportunity of a complete driver in Daniel last year and we don’t regret that at Renault. Just like right now we think it’s the right moment to start having some fresher blood.“I think it’s a trend actually you can see in several teams. We are also interested in young drivers with our academy. We hope and expect to have possibly one driver from that academy by 2021. So it’s also a shift of dynamic to start really welcoming young drivers in our line-up.“It’s not something that we would have been capable of doing two years ago but I think with more maturity in the team we can now envisage that. And that would be a good test to see if we are capable of also managing that because it’s a different type of management. Managing some who is 20, 22 or in his thirties, that’s different.”"

But it’s not that hard to see what is happening here.

Translation: Renault is not good enough for Daniel Ricciardo.

Does that really come as a shock to anybody?

Ricciardo’s salary is the third highest in Formula 1, trailing only that of six-time champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari.

And that aspect was brought about by nothing more than Renault trying to get back at Red Bull Racing after Red Bull Racing ended their 12-year partnership with Renault as an engine manufacturer ahead of the 2019 season, a decision that was announced in June of 2018. Instead, Red Bull Racing switched to Honda.

Renault vowed that their goal was to make Red Bull Racing regret their decision.

So they paid Ricciardo $17 million per year to lure him away, knowing that his frustrations with the team’s reliability — ironically stemming in large part from their very own Renault engines — were mounting, despite the fact that he actually had the chance to win race at the Milton Keynes-based team.

Indeed, chaos ensued.

That left Red Bull Racing in a bind that ultimately led to them giving up the rights to Sainz, who was still effectively on loan at Renault, after Red Bull Racing blocked him from signing a contract extension with the French marque.

But then Ricciardo replaced Sainz, and Sainz moved to McLaren, leaving Red Bull Racing to sign Pierre Gasly, who ended up being replaced by rookie Alexander Albon after just 12 races into the 21-race 2019 season.

However, for Renault, the fun is now over, at least that which is going to cost them $17 million a year for one driver.

Before he made the decision to leave Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo was rumored to join Mercedes or Ferrari in another top-tier ride. He displayed championship potential during his five years at Red Bull Racing, and he looked ready to take that next step.

Then he went to a team that haven’t finished on the podium since 2011 and haven’t won a race since 2008.

Abiteboul knows that unless Renault suddenly start winning races in 2020, Ricciardo is going to be off to a far superior team. Why?

First of all, it’s an obvious waste of $17 million a year to pay a driver to drive for a team that are going to be an also-ran no matter who is behind the wheel, and secondly, Ricciardo is interested in winning. The Renault gamble, while it is not one that he says he regrets, has not paid off.

With two of the four seats at Mercedes and Ferrari currently without drivers under contract for 2021, he could very well be at one of those two teams by the time next season rolls around.

He could easily replace Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc. He could move to Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton if Hamilton replaces Vettel. He could even replace Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes, although that scenario is less likely if Hamilton returns to the team because of how Bottas has performed as a team player alongside Hamilton over the last three seasons.

Abiteboul knows all of this.

But would he ever admit that the reason for it is the fact that Ricciardo is far too good a driver to waste at Renault running just inside the top 10?

Forget it.

Where will Daniel Ricciardo end up in the 2021 Formula 1 season with Renault seemingly having ruled out bringing him back? Will he join Mercedes or Ferrari like he was rumored to do a few years ago?