RB F1 CEO Peter Bayer has revealed that the failed communication around Daniel Ricciardo’s final race was a driver’s decision. The team apparently asked him multiple times if he wanted a public communication on the matter, and he reportedly declined.
“From my point of view, I perhaps see it more from a commercial, communication and marketing angle” Bayer said. “It might have been possible to organize things differently. I also think the farewells would have been different if he had run until the end of the season, for example.”
“But for us as a team it’s important to understand that we communicated very transparently and very, very open and honest with Daniel. We spoke to him again on the Wednesday before the Singapore race and he told us ‘no, we will continue to work’.”
“We then spoke to him again on Saturday night at 2 a.m. in Singapore and he said ‘no, I just want to drive the race. Those who are important to me know that’. For the others, we would have could have big fireworks, but that wasn’t what we wanted.”
Bayer confirms that the team wanted above all to follow the decisions of the Australian driver, who had decided not to make his imminent retirement a subject: “For us, it was above all the desire of the driver which was the decisive factor.”
“Like I said, it could have been different, but I think it was good for him. We spoke to him on the phone the day before yesterday. He’s happy, he’s fine. He’s at peace. He’s happy with how things turned out.”
Bayer even claims that Ricciardo could reappear in the Formula 1 paddock before the end of the season.
“We’ll see. Let’s be surprised! For now, he’s focused on himself, his friends, his family, and he’s happy and satisfied. I also think it’s great that the other drivers react the way they do , greeting him thus.”
“Daniel did a lot to make the sport what it is today. And we celebrated him accordingly. But like I said, Singapore’s history is what it is.”
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