Rival Boss Believes Daniel Ricciardo is Frustrated at Renault

According to a team manager, Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo is “frustrated” with life at Renault. While it may seem outlandish, given his positivity, but does his trademark smile mask the frustration?

The Australian swapped out his Red Bull overalls for Renault ones at the end of the 2018 season. He even declared that he needed a new challenge and took over the seat vacated by Carlos Sainz.

Unfortunately, Renault’s development has been sluggish and riddled with problems so far. To that end, Racing Point team manager Andy Stevenson is of the opinion that Ricciardo’s frustration is slowly bubbling over.

Stevenson referred to Ricciardo supposedly breaking a “gentleman’s agreement” in the sport. That agreement concerned ‘not overtaking rival cars on the lap before qualifying flyers’.

“It seems that Daniel is beginning to get very frustrated that he is in a Renault rather than a Red Bull,” he admitted, speaking to Auto Motor und Sport. His comments came after Ricciardo attempted to pass Racing Point driver Sergio Perez on the last corner before starting a qualifying lap in Hungary.

According to Stevenson, the “gentleman’s agreement” about such tactics was made in Monaco.

“There was a discussion between the drivers and the FIA and that’s when the gentlemen’s agreement was made,” he said.

In the race itself, Ricciardo’s frustration reared its ugly head once again. This time, the victim was Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen, who got flipped off by Daniel Ricciardo after a scrap.

“This c*** is taking the p***, moving under braking,” Ricciardo grumbled over the radio.

Former F1 driver Christian Danner agrees that both Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg are frustrated with the current situation at Renault.

“They are prisoners of their car,” he admitted to RTL.

Hopefully for their sake, when the season resumes in Belgium next month, the French outfit come back stronger.