Daniel Ricciardo has said some Renault staff had read “too many headlines” when he moved from Red Bull and were too nervous to talk to him.

For Renault, it was a huge coup to gain the services of Ricciardo, a seven-time race winner who had made the surprise decision to leave Red Bull behind at the end of 2018 and take a different career path.

Renault had not made a visit to the podium before Ricciardo’s arrival since they had returned to Formula 1 in 2016, a barren spell which was snapped by the Australian when he finished P3 at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix.