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Daniel Ricciardo's former boss at RB, Laurent Mekies, talked about feeling regretful about how the team handled the Australian driver's exit. Ricciardo executed his last race with the team in Singapore, but the news of his exit was made official on 26 September by Red Bull.
That being said, media reports about Ricciardo not being retained beyond Singapore were already floating before the weekend began. When the driver was first confronted by the media on Thursday of the race weekend, he had a firm response and portrayed a confident front. However, as the weekend progressed, the veneer started to break.
By the end of the weekend, after the race, there were moments where Daniel Ricciardo got emotional during the interviews in what was perceived as an implicit acknowledgment of it being the end of the road for him.
Talking to the media ahead of the race weekend in Austin, RB boss Laurent Mekies conceded that maybe the situation was not handled in the best possible manner. He told F1.com,
"We are not happy with ultimately how we handled it, and of course we are very conscious that we could, and we should, have done a better job at that,” Mekies said.
Touching upon his relationship with the Australian, Laurent further added:
"Now, Daniel and us, we were talking on a very regular basis, and then we went into that weekend knowing both of us what the situation was. For a number of reasons we decided to go into [Singapore] trying to keep it [not] public and it proved very, very quickly in the weekend that unfortunately it was not the right decision."
RB team principal on Daniel Ricciardo's exit: "We would do things differently if we had to do it again"
Looking back, Laurent Mekies said that if he had to go back and execute the entire situation, he would have done it differently. The former Ferrari man did however feel that there was still a silver lining in all of it as there was an outpouring of love for Daniel Ricciardo during the weekend when it became clear that it was going to be his last race. Laurent said,
"Certainly we would do things differently if we had to do it again. Now, I’d like to think that from what we saw in Singapore, from the reaction of the fans, from the reaction of the paddock, it was unbelievable how in one way or another, all these streams of love, all these streams of support did arrive nonetheless, even if it was not official, even if it was not the most classic send-off. We felt the fans found a way, and we all love Daniel, and he has proven there that he is bigger than Formula 1.”
While rumors are claiming a return to the sport, Daniel Ricciardo has not shared any plans on what he's doing next, as there appears to be complete radio silence on that front.
