Daniel Ricciardo has explained how he maintains good relationships with his former F1 teams, despite there being "sadness" involved when leaving. The Australian is now racing for McLaren after previously driving for four other outfits in the sport - HRT, the then-called Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Renault (now known as Alpine). Whilst Ricciardo admits that there can be mixed emotions when departing one side for another, he feels that he has managed to stay on friendly terms with his former employers. "Pretty good," Ricciardo told media including RacingNews365.com when asked about his relationships with other teams. "There's always, when you move on as well from another team and whatever the circumstance, you go through the period of... I don't know, a little bit of sadness, because you're closing one chapter, I guess. "But, I don't know, I think me as a person, I'm pretty bubbly and excited, and I always find a way to enjoy whichever environment I'm in. "So I think, through that, you make good relationships, and therefore those relationships do seem to last. So I like to think I've got some good relationships with past teams and, more importantly, just good experiences. "They've all played a part in ultimately where I am today, so I think it's pretty good."
Sainz: "In most teams I made friends"
Carlos Sainz is another driver to have switched teams on more than one occasion in his Formula 1 career, having driven for Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren and now Ferrari. Like Ricciardo, he feels that he made lasting friendships during his time with each side. "I feel like, in most of the teams, I actually made [what] you could call friends," the Spaniard said. "I do try and keep those relationships alive, even though you don't see them that often anymore. Actually, with Daniel's actual race engineer, performance engineer, Adrian [Goodwin] and Tom [Stallard], even Andrea Stella [McLaren's Executive Racing Director] I had a really good relationship with. "I consider them my friends, and every time I bump into them in the paddock, I have a good chat, and you do keep relationships. The same as with people in Renault, Toro Rosso, and even Red Bull back in the day when I used to be the simulator driver. "So it's good. It's just easy to, as time goes by, to lose that kind of relationship, but it's nice when you find them back and have a catch-up with them." Funnily enough, Ricciardo and Sainz's moves around the paddock have often been linked. Ricciardo joined Renault just as Sainz left the squad, and similarly he moved to McLaren when Sainz's vacant spot became available following his switch to Ferrari.
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