Half way into the 2022 Formula One Season all the talk here in Australia seems to be about Daniel Ricciardo and his future at McLaren. From comments his team boss has made through to his results on track – there’s plenty of people pointing to change at McLaren. But not Daniel Ricciardo.
Speaking via video link to Fox Sports’ Jessica Yates ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo makes it very clear. Asked if he has any concerns about his future at McLaren – despite all the assurances he has been given, Daniel says simply “No. No concerns”.
Just a week ago Daniel made this statement via his social media channels:
Talking with Jess Yates, he describes what lead to that statement saying “it got to a point where everyone’s coming up with different stories every weekend and I’m trying to answer different ways of telling them. And I was like, let me just put it straight. And, uh, from the horse’s mouth, as, as we say, so it was pretty much that, so people could hear it from me and just try to, I guess, just try to kind of put it to bed, more than anything and, get them to ask me something new.”
Knowing the F1 media circus as we do, that won’t do it – he’ll still get the same questions this weekend, but hey – his confidence is strong.
In the last week McLaren has signed new IndyCar drivers to their team, and offered on a test in an F1 car, which resulted in yet more speculation about Daniel’s future. On that, Daniel blames the media, saying “I think it’s only been what the media’s made of it. Any of the IndyCar drivers that have, done the F1 testing as Colton has done, like their program is fully IndyCar. It’s a chance for them to, to get behind the wheel of F1, but there’s no, there’s no. Um, how do I say crossover? What’s the word, like I think the media kind of sees out like, oh, what’s what’s gonna happen. Is this potentially an F1 seat or something, but it’s only what they’ve made it out to be. But internally, like everything’s very clear about where we stand as a team and who’s driving what category.
Asked if his statement last week has taken any of the heat out of the whole situation, Daniel seems happy with how things are – telling Jess Yates “Yeah, I, I think so.”
“for, let’s say supporters of me, you know, and people who obviously get behind me and, you know, I’ve had obviously a lot of nice messages over, over the course of, you know, the season over the course of my career, but over the course of the season, obviously through, through some of the, the, the lows as well. And, I think, yeah, any, anyone who kind of thought, oh, what’s what’s gonna happen is just kind of all, all that, like putting it to bed and, making it to clear that, I still love it. “
He was a bit reserved for a TV interview, saying “I wanna swear, but I’ll say stuff, I love this stuff.”
Eleven races still to go, Daniel says he’s looking forward to Singapore and Suzuka, but after a break in August, it seems like Spa is a big one for Daniel, the race which opens the second half of the season – he says “that’s one that I always love, you know, like qualifying around there is fun, but the race as well, like you can, yeah, you can race” and by that he means “you can overtake, you can follow. There is, there’s just, it’s normally like a fun Sunday in Spa”
Sadly, this won’t end the speculation, or rumours – but hey – he’s doing his best.
The only place you can watch the French Grand Prix action is on Fox Sports and Kayo this Sunday at 11 pm.
And of course, you can catch our wrap up of every race on the EFTM F1 Podcast, thanks to Kayo every morning after the race
