Daniel Ricciardo insists he did not decide to quit Renault "on a whim".
With the French carmaker continuing next year even amid the corona-induced recession, some have expressed surprise that the Australian decided to take the arguably sideways move to McLaren for 2021.
"It was not an easy decision to make," Ricciardo is quoted by L’Equipe. "But I didn’t take it on a whim.
"Obviously I can’t wait to race but also to finish this adventure and this chapter with Renault in the best possible way," said the 30-year-old.
"I owe them a lot, on and off the track, so I’m glad we can race and do our best together soon."
But the fact remains that Ricciardo made the decision to quit amid the corona lockdown, before a single engine has fired on a racing grid in 2020.
"The whole year has been full of crazy things, not just the coronavirus, and making that decision after only testing was not ideal," he said.
"Ideally you would have raced and then decided, but we didn’t have the luxury of that this time."