Villeneuve backs Ricciardo's Renault move

1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has backed Daniel Ricciardo's shock move to Renault. Last Friday, Ricciardo announced that he would be leaving Red Bull at the end of the current season after spending five years with the energy drink team.

Ricciardo will be teaming up with Nico Hulkenberg at the French squad as he aims for a new challenge in his career. And Villeneuve has supported the move, stating that Renault has great resources to improve on its current position in the grid order.

"I've been talking about this for a month, but no one believed me," he said. "Everyone thought he was staying at Red Bull, but it's great that he's going to Renault. It's a factory team with great resources," Villeneuve insisted.

Villeneuve also believes that Red Bull is becoming Max Verstappen's team, so it was the right time to exit for Ricciardo: "The cooperation of Red Bull and Honda is not credible. Red Bull is also Max Verstappen's team in the sense that all the attention is on him," he said.