Ricciardo admits deciding 2019 race seat caused a dip in race performance

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he lost performance around the summer break after the stressful process of deciding his race seat for 2019. The Australian completed the preparation in the summer break and announced a shock move to Renault.

In the weeks before the summer break, Ricciardo's performances dipped after he won in China and Monaco. In Austria, Ricciardo recorded a contract announcement video with Red Bull, but that was chucked in the bin.

Ricciardo says he didn't feel any different at the time but reflecting on the matter he can see how it affected his racing.

"At [the] time, I didn't think so. I feel like even if I was to, say, trip and fall over on the way to the car and scratch all my arm, but the time I got in the car it would be blacked out in my head," Ricciardo told ESPN.

"I guess what would have effect -- which you probably don't think at a time -- is when you're away from the track and instead of getting eight hours sleep a night, you're getting six hours sleep because your brain is ticking... for sure this has some form of an accumulated effect."

It was Ricciardo's toughest season. A series of DNF's on his RB14 followed in the back end of the season. But the 29-year-old gets the press the reset button as he moves to Renault next year.