Daniel Ricciardo says he's "relieved" to have settled a lawsuit brought against him by his former manager, confirming on Thursday in Japan that the matter had been resolved.
The Renault F1 driver was facing a £10 million claim by Glenn Beavis "for unpaid commissions related to his new contract with the French manufacturer", claiming he was owed a 20 per cent commission on the deal he helped negotiate.
Ricciardo, who split with Beavis prior to joining Renault, refuted the claims, insisting they hold "no merit whatsoever".
Speaking on Thursday in Suzuka ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Ricciardo said the matter had now been "sorted" and "put to bed".
"All done," he said. "Is it an Aussie saying, ‘Put a fork in it, we’re done’? So it’s all sorted, settled. I can’t go into details, but we both met and it’s been done, put to bed, and not in a bad way or anything like that.
"It actually ended a lot sweeter than it probably looked a few months ago."
Asked if he's relieved not to have the lawsuit hanging over him, he replied: "Yes. And I think to be honest both of us, because it’s not something I guess we wanted. It’s not comfortable, I guess. Yeah, both relieved.
"For sure. I think up until now it didn’t really weigh on me, but obviously if it continued and it goes another year, two years down the track — I don’t know how long these things can go — then for sure it would’ve eventually.
"It’s just been something which I didn’t need. Especially there’s so much now with the team — not only with me, but with the team — that I want to still improve and get right, and I think I just need everything focused on this.
"Even if sometimes you think something’s not distracting you, it could be, so I was happy to put it behind us."
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