Ricciardo: "I had a couple of meetings with them"

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he was in talks with McLaren over a potential switch to the British team. The former Red Bull driver will be racing for Renault in 2019 but they weren't the only team courting the Aussie over a potential race seat.

Whilst Ricciardo's switch to Renault might have come as a surprise to his old team boss Christian Horner, the 29-year-old explained that he was seeking out every one of his options before deciding where his future would be.

Although he finally settled on a switch to Renault, Ricciardo said he was also discussing a move to McLaren that had been a tempting prospect to him.

“I had a couple of meetings with them – and I thought they were really cool people. Definitely, as personnel, I like them a lot. Not that I don’t like Red Bull or anyone else, but I had a really positive vibe with them.

“I think if it was completely personal then McLaren would have been as attractive as anyone. But there was still obviously a big chunk of performance there.

“But obviously, they’ll admit it, they’re just not there yet, and it just seemed probably a bit too optimistic to go there at that point. So that kind of eliminated them.

"Then, Renault we were kind of talking to a bit and eventually it just kind of clicked for me. I was like: Alright, so it’s a works team, the progress they’ve made is good, it’s two years and a solid deal.”