Ex-Red Bull driver claims Daniel Ricciardo would risk losing ‘fairy dust’ of F1 if he switches to a new series
Daniel Ricciardo is an eight-time race winner but has expressed his unwillingness to move to other forms of racing.
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Daniel Ricciardo (via IMAGO)
F1 is considered as the pinnacle of motor racing. Moreover, if any person can make a career within the series, he gets among the few esteemed drivers who get the opportunity to drive an F1 machinery. Daniel Ricciardo recently lost his seat at RB and as a result, speculations regarding the Aussie making a move to a different series have been spreading like wildfire. As per the Ex-Red Bull racer David Coulthard, this could take the shine off Ricciardo’s career.
Daniel Ricciardo made his debut in F1 more than a decade ago in one of the more inferior machineries at HRT. He was soon promoted to Red Bull‘s junior team at Toro Rosso(now RB) and made quick way to the senior team. However, after being stranded on the sidelines after a shock departure from McLaren, the Austrian giant came back to forge the former relationship that the two parties once had.
To his dismay, the chance to get back in a race-winning team was reduced to none, as he was constantly outperformed by his younger teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. This ultimately led the Red Bull hierarchy to pull the trigger on him and bring in Liam Lawson at RB.
The risk in that is you, unless you go in and dominate, which the chances of doing that are pretty slim, you just become another driver and you kind of lose the fairy dust of being an ex-Grand Prix driver. He could definitely be an asset from a media point of view, working in media and all those commercial opportunities, but he may have other plans.
David Coulthard said as quoted by GPBlog
Subsequently, after losing his seat, rumors started circulating the paddock that the 35-year-old could move to a different series to continue his passion for racing. Despite the tempting offer, F1 drivers have tended to remain mediocre in different series worldwide as the days of their prime racing are gone as claimed by David Coulthard. Also, this can be observed by Roman Grosjean‘s career path, which wore off the fairy dust of racing in F1, soon after his move to IndyCar.
Daniel Ricciardo knew about his sacking well before the Singapore GP
On the other hand, fans have criticized Red Bull for the unprofessional handling of Ricciardo’s situation. People reckoned that an eight-time race winner did not deserve the half-hearted farewell that he received in Singapore.
Regardless of the rumors, Coulthard conspired that the 35-year-old possibly knew about his sacking way earlier.
One thing that’s interesting and a rumor, rather I have seen it with my own eyes, was that he[Ricciardo] actually knew from a few races back that it would be finishing in Singapore, and he had the opportunity obviously to make that public and he chose not to.
David Coulthard said on the Formula For Success podcast
Even if Ricciardo knew about his sacking, his decision to keep it private might have been the last hope that he had in Horner & Co. Moreover, with fans pressuring Red Bull for the way they dealt with the issue, it could have aided the Austrian giant to reconsider its decision and maybe let the Aussie see out the whole season until Abu Dhabi.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)