“More people will be interested in joining us” Abiteboul on Ricciardo’s arrival

Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul has said that the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo will mean “more people will be interested in joining us,” as the team pushes to battle at the front.

Ricciardo announced his decision in the summer last year that he would leave Red Bull to start fresh at the Renault works team for 2019.

Renault’s goal over the next few years since it’s return is to fight for title’s and championships, but Abiteboul says that they do not have these expectations this year even after the acquirement of the Australian.

"I don't see us suddenly in a position to fight for wins or fight for the championship. That is not what we have told him, and he has been clear about that too,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"Anyone can think what they want about the road map that we have defined, but I think it is already quite aggressive as a road map."

"Anyone who knows enough about F1 appreciates that the gap we have to the top teams will take some time to be absorbed. Daniel has only increased the chances to stick to the road map which is to fight for wins by 2020."

He went on the add that the addition of Ricciardo has and will attract more people to come and work for the team, emphasising that time is one of the key issues for the teams development.

"Frankly, we are not limited by finance, we are not limited by budget, what is limiting us is time.”

"You can only spend based on the size of your organisation. It is like a start-up. When you don't have the revenue yet, you have a cash burn rate, and an F1 organisation is exactly the same.”

"You are limited by your ability to spend, which is a factor depending on the size of your company, the number of people releasing some drawings, sending that to production and so on and so forth."

"If I talk about the positions we have available, maybe more engineers or more people will be interested in joining us because we have sent that statement. Daniel is a way to fast-track that scarcest resource we have: which is time."