Former Alpine boss Cyril Abiteboul insisted that Daniel Ricciardo will regret leaving the French team for McLaren in the future.
Abiteboul was one of the most popular team bosses in the paddock. He was the team principal of Alpine, back when they were still known as Renault, and was in charge when they signed Ricciardo.
Ricciardo left Red Bull in 2019 to join a team with whom he could compete for the Title. His destination turned out to be Renault, which surprised many considering the fact that they weren’t fast enough. Ricciardo was pretty consistent during his time with the Enstone-based outfit but the machinery he had at his disposal was not enough to fulfill his ambitions.
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) August 24, 2022
The Aussie managed two podium finishes in his two seasons with Renault, but in 2020 decided that he will leave. His destination was revealed to be McLaren and this was a move that everyone saw as a perfect match. The only person who predicted this move going wrong was Abiteboul.
Abiteboul had full confidence that Daniel Ricciardo would regret his decision
Abiteboul was a popular figure in Netflix’s famous Drive to Survive series. There, his 2020 season in F1 and his relationship with Ricciardo were very well documented. It was there that Abiteboul insisted that Ricciardo would regret making the switch to McLaren.
Ricciardo was not unhappy at Renault but wanted to join a team that looked like they would compete for the Championship in the coming years.
Reminder that Cyril was right and I miss him winding up Christian 😔 pic.twitter.com/zxGwfhHiR7
— Tommo (@TwommoF1) August 24, 2022
His teammate at McLaren was going to be Lando Norris, who is one of the most exciting prospects. In spite of all this promise, however, Ricciardo’s move to McLaren turned out to be a colossal failure.
He had a thoroughly underwhelming spell with the Woking-based outfit other than his win in Monza last year. McLaren decided that it was time to pull the plug and earlier this week they announced that the Perth born driver would leave them at the end of the campaign. It was a mutual decision according to Ricciardo, but it led to fans reminiscing Abiteboul’s words back in 2020.
The honey badger is currently P12 in the Drivers’ Standings with just 19 points to his name.
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