Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul says that the team raised its budget to get DannyRic. He also hints at a bidding war for the Aussie driver:
“First, in my opinion, Renault can afford pretty much anything. Renault is the largest car maker involved in Formula 1. So we can afford anything as long as it makes sense. Then it’s just a question of value for money and whether it makes sense to spend that given where we are in the development of our team.
Second, I don’t think we were the highest bidder in obtaining Daniel, without going into details. He bought into the project not necessarily because of the money. I don’t think it would be great to put this sort of light on Daniel.
“And lastly, it would not make any sense to bring a driver by having to make some concession on our capacity to finance the development of the engine or the chassis. So, in shorthand, obviously it means an increase of our budget.”
https://racer.com/2018/08/28/renault-increased-budget-to-sign-ricciardo/