Daniel Ricciardo is facing a court claim of £10 million ($12.5m) over his switch from Red Bull to Renault for the 2019 Formula 1 season.
According to a claim filed with London's High Court, Ricciardo's former manager Glenn Beavis has filed the suit against the Australian for unpaid commissions related to his new contract with the French manufacturer.
Beavis is seeking £10m for what he claims is "due in accordance with the commission agreed between the parties" prior to their split.
Beavis, who appeared alongside Ricciardo in Netflix's 'Drive to Survive' documentary series, claims to have had an agreement with Ricciardo which would earn him a 20 per cent commission on the value of any new deals.
Although Ricciardo and Beavis split prior to the first race of the season, the suit claims Beavis had initiated contract discussions with Renault in 2017 before reaching an agreement in August 2018, though a long form contract had yet to be signed.
This was completed on March 7, a week before the Australian Grand Prix, and it's claimed the pair had continued to work together until March 31, although Ricciardo informed Beavis that he wished to terminate their relationship on December 15 2018. It adds that an agreement was reached to continue working together until outstanding matters were concluded.
Whilst many of the details of Ricciardo's deal with Renault have been redacted from public view, the available details would suggest the 30-year-old is on more than £20m a season.
A lawyer representing Ricciardo and his company Whitedunes International Holdings Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, refutes the claims laid out in the suit and says they hold "no merit".
"I can confirm that Ebury Partnership and I act for Daniel Ricciardo in relation to this claim and Daniel's position is very clear – there is no merit whatsoever in relation to this claim and we are going to defend it absolutely fully," lawyer Jeremy Courtenay-Stamp told the BBC.
"You'll have only seen his claim so far. You won't have seen our defence because it hasn't been filed. But it will be filed and it will entirely refute the claim that Beavis is making."
Discussion about this post