Ricciardo: "I had to act fast, before it was too late"

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20 June 2020 at 18:50
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  • GPblog.com

After one season at Renault, Daniel Ricciardo has already made the choice to switch to McLaren in 2021. According to the Australian he had little time to make that decision.

After Ferrari announced that Sebastian Vettel would no longer be driving for the team from next season, a real Formula 1 seat dance was born. One of the changes is that Ricciardo will drive for McLaren from 2021.

This is remarkable, because the Australian wanted to work with Renault towards the top of Formula 1. So after one season Ricciardo already puts an end to those plans. "It all started to move fast after the departure of Sebastian and all the other things that played a role. It may have looked like there was still time, but I think there was almost no time to go anywhere", the smiling driver explains in the F1 Nation podcast.

The biggest step for McLaren

"I was already putting the puzzle in my head. If you don't start racing until July, which wasn't even a certainty then, you won't find out in the first two races. You probably have to wait until August or September to be sure where each team stands. I think I would have been too late at that point."

Ricciardo says he had to make choices based on last season. "Mercedes won the championship again, but it is quite clear that McLaren has made the biggest step. That is encouraging for them. What's more, they will also change engines in 2021. It was just certainly not an easy decision." Whether Ricciardo's choice was the right one, we won't know until March.