The boss of Red Bull's second F1 team has admitted that the communication strategy involving Daniel Ricciardo in Singapore may not have been ideal.
Before the race weekend even began, rumours were intensifying that the 35-year-old Australian was about to compete in his last ever grand prix at the Singapore event.
As he completed the weekend, Ricciardo was visibly emotional when facing the press, acknowledging that while the official announcement hadn't been made, his Formula 1 journey was likely nearing its end.
"We already said that he would talk about the performance of the drivers after Singapore," Laurent Mekies, team boss at RB, commented post-race.
Mekies, who moved to the Faenza-based team this year from Ferrari, further explained:
"There is nothing wrong with reviewing the performance of our drivers every few races," the Frenchman mentioned, "but I think that maybe too much was done in the public eye about this. Our communication."
"We already did it in the first part of the season - we did it just before the summer break with quite a bit of fanfare, and I think at one point we said we'd be looking at it again after Singapore. So that's part of the game," Mekies continued.
"But sometimes we can clearly see that maybe it means a bit too much pressure for the competitors - above all for Daniel in this case," he said.
"I'm thinking about Daniel first and foremost because he's had a lot of that this season.
"Sometimes he had quiet races, but sometimes they were very difficult, and this one clearly belongs to the latter category. Of course, these guys are elite athletes and they know how to deal with this kind of thing. But sometimes it's a bit unnecessary," Mekies added.
"If we look at it as a whole, no matter how much we want to think that it doesn't distract, it always takes a little energy out of a person. Daniel was still super fast all weekend, but when everything is so tight, when a tenth here, a tenth there matters so much, we can't forget the particular difficult conditions he's had this weekend."
