Abiteboul: 'Ocon won't get preferential treatment thanks to Ricciardo's departure'

Because of the coronavirus the season has yet to start and a number of teams have already known before the first race that one of their drivers will leave. This is also the case at Renault, where Daniel Ricciardo will leave for direct competitor McLaren after two years. Despite this, Abiteboul promises equal treatment for his drivers this season.

Ricciardo came to the Renault team in 2019 for a lot of money to be the first driver to lead the team to the top. Because it is a factory team, that possibility does exist, but apparently Ricciardo doesn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. His decision to move to McLaren came as a surprise to Renault and didn't fall well with Abiteboul. Nevertheless, the team boss promises Reuters that Ricciardo will receive a fair treatment in 2020.

“There won’t be any preferential treatment between Esteban and Daniel on the back of his decision, because it’s not the policy of the team. It’s not also a necessity, let’s be honest, I’m not fighting for any championship as we stand right now so it would make absolutely no sense, and Daniel will be fully involved in the development process of the car.”

The latter is possible because Abiteboul thinks that McLaren can not take advantage of information that Ricciardo takes with him about the current car. This is because McLaren will use Mercedes engines from 2021 and will have to use all their 'development sticks' to install them, which will not allow them to modify their chassis.