Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director of Renault Formula 1 team, defended the team’s decision to hire Daniel Ricciardo.
Abiteboul insists that the decision is likely to produce value for money results, even if the team is not ready to go for title. Ricciardo represents good value for the team.
The Australian driver joined Renault for 2019 season after little or no interest from the top two tiers, Mercedes and Ferrari, and a failed negotiation with Red Bull.
Few has questioned the Ricciardo’s decision to switch to a lower team, but he was promised a major pay hike. He expected to earn quite higher than what he was being offered by Red Bull to stay.
Renault has faced criticism for spending “stupid money”, which has been defended by the team, on the driver. The team could have utilized the money to upgrade its staff or infrastructure as the team won’t be running for title this year.
Abiteboul vision with Ricciardo on team is clear and he believes that benefit of a top tier driver on board goes beyond the track.
Abiteboul said, “There is a considerable financial commitment from Renault.
“But it is not a question of whether Renault can afford it: it can definitely afford it as our turnover is 40 times the turnover of Red Bull. There is no question mark about that.
“The question mark is about the value. Does it make sense to invest that type of money in a driver at the level of Daniel at this point of our journey, with the car that we have and the other expense that we must do? We believe so.
“There has been some discussion about that. Would we be better off investing in to the car or the drivers?
“I think we have reached a point where we can invest in both reasonably.”
Renault had been struggling to close the gap to title contenders, which they expect will be helped by having Ricciardo. Also, he pointed out that new arrangement would not affect other possible areas of improvement.
“ I would also like to say that the commercial arrangement with Daniel is extremely sensible and nowhere near what can exist elsewhere in F1,” said Abiteboul.
“It is obviously commensurate to the level of his skills and talent, and what he can bring to the team. But it is not a stupid amount of money.
“So I think it has all been done in a sensible way, and it is not in a way that will be detrimental to the team who can keep on spending on the development of the car and the engine.”
