Farewell Daniel Ricciardo? – it appears his F1 run is over

I’m an Aussie, and I’ll always cheer for the Aussie on the grid in F1. What that also does is make any tipping contests hard because you always tip with your heart not your head, and we all see media headlines and shrug them off as more paddock rumours.

But this weekend gone’s Singapore Grand Prix was something different.

In the lead up there was talk that Red Bull junior Liam Lawson would take Daniel’s seat for Singapore. But that didn’t happen. However right across the weekend rumours around the paddock made it clear that Red Bull were making a decision on the future in the four week gap between Singapore and Austin and that wasn’t a good thing for Daniel.

It’s like everyone was told, but told to keep it hush. They didn’t, they all just said it as speculation. Even lead commentator David Croft mentioned at least twice in the actual race broadcast that this “Could be his last race”.

Fans around the world united around Daniel though, even though we couldn’t be in the paddock to cheer him on, we voted – Driver of the Day – Daniel Ricciardo. Normally a vote that goes to the driver who had the epic overtakes, or took the lead – this weekend fans around the world Voted for Daniel Ricciardo – as if to show the Red Bull bosses they have a legend on their hands.

And it certainly worked for Daniel anyway – he said “It also felt really special to be voted Driver of the Day by my fans today.”

Sadly though, the reality is vastly different, even his team boss Laurent Mekies didn’t mince his words in his official wrap of the event. He said “He (Daniel) never gave up and fought all race long. Given this may have been Daniel’s last race, we wanted to give him the chance to savour it and go out with the fastest lap.”

We all know Helmet Marko makes these calls, and while he appears to be overlooking the dramatic underperformance of Sergio Perez, it looks likely that Daniel won’t get to race at his “second home” Grand Prix in Austin in Four weeks.

He’s raced hard, and set himself a legacy he can be proud of. Eight race wins, including the Monza win with McLaren just a couple of years ago.

And it’s hard to argue for him, objectively, when a kid like Franco Colapinto is racing hard and well, and he doesn’t even have a drive on the grid next year!

Drivers like Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu all continue to get drives, perhaps content with their lot in life. Daniel was different, he didn’t want to drive for Haas and battle for points, he had his eyes on the Red Bull seat and that was his goal.

He didn’t make it, and now we wait to see if the reports are true, and then, where he ends up next.

Daniel doesn’t need to work, despite his Renault and McLaren stints essentially setting him back – they pushed his bank balance forward, setting him up for life.

But unlike his Aussie predecessor Mark Webber, he doesn’t strike me as someone to get into the World Endurance Championship or similar categories.

I suspect Daniel will dabble. Some Nascar events, heck even an IndyCar race maybe, and I do think we’ll see him at the Bathurst 1000 one day, he’ll want to experience it all.

He’s a genuine guy. I was lucky enough to interview him four times, back in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, he was always very generous with his time, willing to chat and basically a down to earth Aussie.

I’d love to see him finish out the year for VCARB, give Helmet some thinking music vs Sergio Perez. But, Liam Lawson deserves a spot on the grid, and Aussies will cheer him on against Yuki for sure.

We will have Oscar and Jack to cheer on also, but a three way representation from Australia would have been sensational.

Daniel Ricciardo – F1 Driver

• 257 Races
• 32 Podiums
• 8 race wins

Just for context, the legendary Jacy Ickx had 8 as did Denny Hulme. Among current drivers Sergio Perez has 6 Wins, Carlos Sainz has 3, Charles Leclerc 7.

There have been 777 F1 Drivers. Only 115 Grand Prix winners. Daniel is the equal 37th best with Hulme and Ickx by Wins.

To Daniel, Enchanté – Best of luck with whatever comes next.