Former F1 driver Felipe Massa has said that he understand’s why Daniel Ricciardo opted to quit Red Bull. For the uninitiated, Ricciardo is leaving the top three team at the end of the year to join the works Renault project.

Some are under the impression that the Australian is moving solely for money. Meanwhile, Aston Martin Red Bull boss Christian Horner is of the opinion that he might come to regret the decision.

However, former F1 driver Massa understood why Ricciardo took this major step.

“Daniel, like the rest of us, doesn’t know what will happen with the Honda engines next year.

He is also not very happy with Max Verstappen. It’s a risk, and it may or may not work out,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the Red Bull camp, Horner vehemently denied talks that Fernando Alonso will be replacing Ricciardo in 2019. The Briton stated that the Spaniard brings “chaos” to any F1 team that he joins.

When the question was posed to him on Twitter, Spaniard Alonso reacted with multiple ‘laughing’ emojis. The Spanish veteran even put up a hashtag that included the words ‘No Thanks’

Meanwhile, Massa is enjoying life after F1 and is currently president of the FIA’s karting division. In addition to that, he is also preparing for his Formula E debut with the Leonardo DiCaprio-backed Venturi Formula E team. The Monegasque team will be headed by former Williams test driver Susie Wolff.

The Formula E season will begin on 15th December with Saudi Arabia hosting its maiden FE race. This will be the fifth season for the series and the first one with the Gen 2 cars. There will be 13 rounds this season, but one slot has yet to be confirmed.

Coming back to the subject of F1, Daniel Ricciardo will have to see out the rest of the 2018 season with Red Bull.