Daniel Ricciardo forced to pay in $18 million legal dispute

Daniel Ricciardo has reached an out-of-court settlement over an $18 million legal dispute with his former manager, avoiding an ugly battle in court.

Glenn Beavis recently took action against Ricciardo over money he claimed to be owed from the Aussie driver's switch from Red Bull to Renault.

Ricciardo shocked the F1 world last year when he announced he would leave Red Bull to take up a two-year deal with Renault.

The 30-year-old subsequently split with Beavis, ending a partnership that began in 2012, to sign with American talent agency giants CAA Sports.

In July, Beavis served claims that he was owed a debt of 20 per cent commission on Ricciardo's base salary at Renault and a number of contractual details.

However Ricciardo was adamant the claims were unjustified and said he would fight Beavis in court.

But on Thursday it was revealed the dispute has been settled out of court.

“All done. We've put a fork in it. It is all sorted, settled,” Ricciardo told Autosport at the Japanese Grand Prix.

"I can't go into details, but we both met and it has been done and put to bed. And not in a bad way or anything.

"It actually ended a lot sweeter than it looked a few months ago."

Ricciardo admitted it was a relief to put the saga behind him.

"Up until now it didn't really weigh on me, but if it continued and it goes another year or two years down the track, because I don't know how long these things can go, then for sure it would have eventually just been something that I didn't need,” he said.

"And there is so much now with the team, not only with me, that I want to still improve and get right, so I need everything focused on this.

"And even if sometimes you think that something isn't distracting you, it could be. So I was happy to put it behind."

Ricciardo’s salary revealed in court documents

According to the documents filed by Beavis, he first discussed the driver’s move to Renault midway through 2017.

Based on Beavis's claim for £10m (AU$18m), it is suggested that Ricciardo's base salary with Renault is more than £20m – or AU$35m – per year.

"In December 2018, Beavis claims Ricciardo wanted to terminate their agreement with immediate effect," Autosport reports.

"This was delayed until the end of January 2019 as Beavis allegedly requested time to complete the long-form of the Renault F1 driver contracts.

"However, according to the claim these contracts were not finalised and signed by the end of January and Beavis continued to provide services to Ricciardo beyond that date.

"Ricciardo's Renault contract was eventually concluded on March 7, 10 days before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix."