Ricciardo interest in Renault surprised me: Prost

Former world champion, Alain Prost, who serves as an advisor for his former team, Renault, has admitted that the eagerness from Daniel Ricciardo actually surprised the entire team.

“We were a bit surprised when he said ‘yes I want to come’. He’s going to allow us to push the team to become even better and better all the time. It’s a little bit more pressure on the team because of him. But at the end, it’s positive pressure,” said Prost.

“When we talked to Daniel, it was a very frank discussion. He knows everything, he has seen everything – and he knows he can not be a world champion next year. We are going to be better for sure, but it’s going to take time.”

Ricciardo shocked everyone when he announced his Renault deal, a decision which set off a chain reaction where a lot of drivers interchanged their alliances and a few new ones cropped up on the grid.

After this statement, it is revealed that even the team were left pessimistic until Ricciardo approached them with gutso. Prost went on to elaborate on how the Australian’s arrival helped the team.

“What Daniel can bring is – obviously the first thing is himself. He’s a driver that has won races, and he has been so competitive in the last few years. He’s a very nice personality which is very important for the team – and he’s also coming from a winning team,” said Prost.

“The marketing side, he’s good value. He’s a funny guy. If you talk about Daniel inside Formula 1, outside Formula 1, you never have controversy. For me, he is one of the best drivers to overtake people. He’s very competitive.”

“He has had more points than his team mates very often, like Max (Verstappen) who is considered one of the best. He’s a top guy. In a team like Renault, it’s a big team with a big factory, the Renault family has a long history in Formula 1 – but it’s also a big company.”

Ricciardo is expected to struggle to win races with Renault with their development not yet at the top level but the wins may arrive in 2020.