Ricciardo out of F1
Although there has not yet been an official announcement regarding his retirement from racing, it’s easy to imagine that Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 career has come to an end. This can be understood not only from the tears of the 35-year-old Australian at the end of the last Singapore GP, but also from the many expressions of affection on social media from practically all his adventure companions in the paddock. Including Christian Horner: the Red Bull team principal was in fact the person who most of all pushed for Ricciardo’s return to Milton Keynes after his dismissal from McLaren at the end of the 2022 season.
Horner’s memory
“He will be greatly missed in F1 – Horner said in his long speech on the podcast F1 Nations – because Daniel is a brilliant character, a brilliant human being who, when he walks into a room, lights it up with his infectious smile. Even though we have never managed to reach an agreement with a toothpaste brand, we tried very hard! I hope he stays in this sport. We told him that we want him to remain with us as an ambassador for the team. And of course you never know… if Lawson and Perez don’t get the job done, we know what Ricciardo’s capabilities are. But I think even he, at the age he’s at, knows he’s had a great career. There are so many memories… The most disgusting thing was drinking champagne from his sweaty boot, but that’s something he made his own by making a lot of people drink from his shoe”.
Ricciardo and the challenge with Perez
Horner also explained what was the reason that led to the decision to stop him during the championship: “The problem was the lack of consistency. He started badly, then in Miami he had a half-assed weekend… Friday and Saturday morning was fantastic. He looked like the old Daniel, fending off the Ferraris and driving on top of the car. But then Saturday afternoon and Sunday were disastrous. In Barcelona, Marko already wanted him out of the car. There was already a lot of pressure on him, but when we got to Montreal, good old Villeneuve made him angry and he drove very well that weekend too. I told him ‘you should call Jacques at every GP because, whatever he told you, it worked’”.
“I did my best – added the English manager – to buy him all the time necessary to put him in a position to get a result, otherwise he would have been out after Barcelona. Despite not being a young talent, his aim in the junior team was to pick up the pieces in case Perez did not regain good form. The problem is that both had a decline at different times of the year… Checo started the season very well when Daniel was in difficulty. Then, of course, when Checo started to struggle, Daniel found some form. But it was never convincing enough to make us think it would have been better to swap the two drivers”.
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