Ricciardo responds to press release Abiteboul: "News can be hard to take"

After having driven only one season for Renault, Daniel Ricciardo announced that he will switch to direct competitor Daniel Ricciardo before 2021. In spite of previous media reports, his relationship with Cyril Abiteboul is still fine according to the Australian.

Shortly afterwards, Renault issued a short press release in which Cyril Abiteboul stressed that unity, trust and joint commitment are very important to Renault. Some media interpreted this as a stab under the water towards Ricciardo, who would not meet those qualities.

Ricciardo has his own statement

Ricciardo explains in front of the Channel 4 camera that there is no need to get anything behind your face here. "I knew about it because I'd read some articles, but I've been talking to him ever since and there's nothing going on." Although he does have his own explanation for Abiteboul's statement:

"It's competitiveness that you can see in drivers. If you believe in something and you want it, you are faced with a conflict of interest. The news [of my departure] can be a bit hard to take, but in time everyone forgets about it and you go back to work".