'You're a d***head': Ricciardo's funny parting dig at Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo has taken a typically hilarious parting shot at Red Bull after his final race.

The Aussie’s dreams of a fairy tale podium finish with Red Bull slipped away in the desert night at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

After leading the race for 15 laps Ricciardo, who will link with Renault next season, was forced to pit on lap 34 which saw him return to the track in fifth position on Sunday.

He was able to overtake a faltering Valtteri Bottas but was unable to make up ground on the top three of world champion Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, settling for fourth.

A clearly frustrated Ricciardo said he felt “helpless” after his team’s tactics left him with little chance at the end, so he decided to take it out on his engineer.

Ricciardo’s on-board radio picked up a hilarious dig he took at Red Bull engineer Simon Rennie, who thanked him for his five years of service.

“You’re a d***head,” he replied, before adding: “For the record, you’re not a d***head — you’re ok.”

Ricciardo touched on his relationship with Rennie in a blog post ahead of his Red Bull finale.

“Simon and I couldn’t be more different out of the car, our personalities are really as contrasting as you could get, but we’ve had this fantastic relationship where he understands me and we never second-guess one another,” Ricciardo wrote.

“I always felt he knew what I wanted or what I meant, and I always trusted him to make the right calls. I never questioned him.

“He feeds off the battles with me, if I say something on the radio that’s hungry, he’s right with me. He’s someone I’m going to miss going into battle with on Sundays.”

Ricciardo downbeat after farewell race

“I’m alright, it wasn’t the most exciting race,” a downbeat Riccardo said afterwards.

“It was fun (leading) but (pitting late) just put me out of reach or the leaders.

“I don’t know if we had any other options. Obviously we could have pitted early and kept track position. It’s always hard to know (the best strategy).

“I don’t think anyone thought (the tyres would last to the end). Lewis pitted really early and (probably) didn’t think he would last so strongly to the end.”

Finding himself stuck behind Verstappen with laps running out the 29-year-old said he “felt kind of helpless at the end there”.

“I couldn’t really do too much. The pace advantage originally was strong but that fell away quite quickly. We probably weren’t quick enough.

“I was a bit lonely on the last few laps. I couldn’t do much more. Obviously third and fourth was great for the team, it’s solid.

“We close this chapter now. Thanks to Red Bull, I would have loved to drink out of my shoe but who knows? There are still a few hours to go yet.”

with AAP