“He carried the team”- Mark Webber shower praises on Daniel Ricciardo for 2020 performances as kept them in midtable contention till the end.
Daniel Ricciardo made an impactful set of performances for Renault this season, as they ended up 5th in the table, though below their expectations, yet a massive surge in points they earned this season.
Moreover, they also managed to grab three podiums, out of which two belonged to Daniel Ricciardo before this Renault hadn’t won a podium since 2011.
Mark Webber, who followed Ricciardo intensively this season was mightily impressed with the Australian driver and even went onto say that he carried the team.
Head empty, daniel ricciardo only pic.twitter.com/D0T0ZWmJ2E
— Jojo;³🎄🎁 (@dangericciardo) December 22, 2020
“I think he drove awesome this year,” said the nine-time Grand Prix winner of Ricciardo. I’ve actually personally spent more time with Daniel than ever this year and it’s been quite good to see [how] he’s enjoyed this year.
“[It is] not [because of] less pressure, but just because he really felt valued at the team and he’s going to feel that again, I think, at McLaren next year. That’s sort of the step away from where he was at Red Bull.
“I think he did what he advertised he was going to do at Renault and that’s what he is. He’s an infectious character, he lifted Enstone, they really did a good job, he carried the team effectively this year, made very little errors, and he’ll take that to McLaren.
“So, I think Daniel’s stock is still tremendous – we know that – and he’s good for the sport. We need him more towards the front. He’s a guy that needs to be on the podiums; he celebrates success, he celebrates what our sport, in essence, should be about, [which] is the characters, so let’s see.”
Better expected in McLaren
Considering the progress of McLaren over the last two years has seen them grow rapidly, and now with a significant cash surge after selling off their stakes, the expectations from the British team has increased with Ricciardo joining them.
“A good injection of cash there just with some new people injecting some new money into the company there,” said Webber. “And, the P3 in the championship I think is another six million or eight million quid for them,”
“So all that stuff helps them to give them the confidence to give him a good car next year,” he concluded.
