Daniel Ricciardo reveals key 'reason' why he left Red Bull

Australian F1 star Daniel Ricciardo has shed light on the man who became a major factor behind his move away from Red Bull.

Before stunning many Formula One experts and fans by announcing that he was joining Renault, the Aussie was fully expected to extend his deal with the energy drink giant for 2019.

Over the course of his five seasons with Red Bull, the 30-year-old forged a strong working relationship with race engineer, Simon Rennie.

However, when it became clear that the end of 2018 would mark the end of Rennie's time in the role, it changed Ricciardo's outlook on his future.

“There were a lot of reasons, but losing Simon - I knew he wasn't going to engineer this year, if I stayed at Red Bull, and I thought I had a good relationship with him, and there were some unknowns,” Ricciardo admitted during this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

“I was certainly comfortable with him. If I knew he stayed, I don't know if that would've been the deciding factor, but it was another [thing] - obviously when you've got the Honda concern and a few others, I guess that was another little thing.

With Rennie keen to travel less and moving into a factory role, Red Bull were set to reunite Ricciardo with his former British F3 race engineer Mike Lugg, but the Aussie eventually opted for the lucrative two-year deal to partner Nico Hulkenberg at Renault.

“As I said, there were lots of these little things which probably added up - I don't want to say ‘concerns’ but unknowns, ‘concerns’ is probably a bit disrespectful,” Ricciardo added.

Ricciardo also revealed that he was still undecided on his future going into the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix, where rival teams competing for the Aussie's signature were keen to know his intentions.

"I remember, coming into the weekend, I was still a little bit probably oblivious of what was going to happen and where I would end up, but as the weekend progressed, Friday or Saturday, it was like, 'alright, some teams are really pushing me, they need to know answers' - so it started to ramp up,” he continued.

"And it was Sunday night we had to start to really decide what to do, and I was like 'I'm just going to go out tonight, have a few drinks, and maybe I'll find my answer with a few friends'.

"And then on the Monday it all kind of started to kick off a bit more."

With agencies