Laurent Mekies has revealed that they decided together with Daniel Ricciardo to keep Singapore weekend as they did but admits bad handling.
Internally, Ricciardo more or less knew that Singapore GP was mostly going to be his last F1 race with Visa Cash App RB, but publicly there was no announcement made and in the media as well, the Australian had to maintain that way.
Even though he had a strong indication or rather confirmation about his F1 exit, he still played it as it was unknown in front of the media. The things he did, though, eventually gave away the situation which included late stay in the paddock.
The handling wasn’t welcomed by the fans and even certain section of media and people inside the paddock. Visa Cash App RB team boss Mekies admits that they should have handled things better, but noted that the decision was made along with Ricciardo.
But he was happy with how the public reacted which showed how much people cared about Ricciardo. “I think the answer is yes, it was frustrating, and yes, you’re right, it was not ideal to go through the weekend in that way, first of all for him, on a professional and on a personal matter, and for the whole team around him,” said Mekies to media.
“Yes, Daniel was aware. We did have discussions before the weekend. For many different reasons, we chose together to go into that weekend without announcing. And from that point onwards, we had to deal with it. It’s a decision that, in hindsight, we may or may not do differently. But it’s something that we were, both the team and the drivers, were on board to go through that now.
“I think in one way or another, we all found a way to express how much love there is from the sport to Daniel, from the fans to Daniel. So I don’t know if it would have been better or worse, certainly different, more traditional, but I can hopefully say that the amount of love and empathy we felt through that weekend was something outstanding and something that shows that he’s bigger than an F1 driver, he’s bigger than F1.”
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