“There was certainly an appetite for that” – Daniel Ricciardo opens up on discussions with Mercedes for an F1 reserve drive role before signing with Red Bull


“There was certainly an appetite for that” – Daniel Ricciardo opens up on discussions with Mercedes for an F1 reserve drive role before signing with Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo states the reason for not signing with Mercedes

Daniel Ricciardo will not be racing in Formula 1 next year. The Australian driver came upon an agreement with McLaren to terminate his contract at the end of this year, forcing the 33-year-old to look around the F1 grid for a drive for 2023. Danny eventually decided against going for one of the available seats at the field’s backend and signed with his old team, Red Bull Racing for a marketing-centric reserve role for 2023. However, before signing with the Austrian team, the Aussie was rumored to be in talks with Mercedes as its third driver next season.

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Recently Ricciardo made an appearance at the In the Fast Lane podcast, where the 33-year-old was asked about the opportunity of joining the German team as a replacement for the Silver Arrows’ incumbent reserve drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck De Vries, who have left the team at the end of the season. The host also mentioned the bonding between Danny Ric, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff and F1 driver George Russell, especially in the latter half of the season, which had helped fuel these rumors.

Lewis Hamilton believes that Daniel Ricciardo deserves a full-time drive in Formula 1

Daniel Ricciardo mentioned his interest in the role and stated, “There were talks with Mercedes as well and I was also appreciative of their engagement as well because there was certainly an appetite for that.” The former McLaren driver then expressed how the talks went down and eventually sidelined by Red Bull’s offer, The Aussie continued, “It stalled a little bit and then the Red Bull stuff started to make more and more sense.. and it naturally progressed.”

Danny Ric recalled the appeal the Silver Arrows have had ever since the hybrid era and the talks the 33-year-old had with the German team a few years prior, Ricciardo elaborated, “There was a part of me as well yeah of course even when I was at Red Bull Mercedes was always the team… that was dominating it was a team I was looking at… I had some conversations with them back in the day and to have a few more now it was nice.” The Aussie also stated the encouragement of still being approached by top teams and said, “nice to just to still be valued by some top teams after the couple of years I’ve had.”

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Daniel Ricciardo states the reason for choosing Red Bull over Mercedes

Daniel mentioned having talks with the Silver Arrows during his time at Red Bull

Ricciardo chose to not go ahead with the German team, instead, the Aussie opted to have a homecoming back to Red Bull Racing. The 33-year-old mentioned the reason for the decision to be his desire to work with a more known environment after a rough few years in the sport, Ricciardo stated, “I’ve obviously jumped around a bit in the last few years and maybe a bit of familiarity would be good for me. To just go back and work with people I’ve worked with before.”

Another positive aspect of the Austrian team was the success achieved by Danny Ric with the cars of the team in F1, the 33-year-acknowledged the new cars but stated his confidence in the known atmosphere He continued, “And obviously a car, I appreciate cars have changed now but a car that I gelled very well with. So this is probably the environment that will settle me the best and make me figure out what’s the next step beyond this, what I really want after 2023.”

Daniel Ricciardo will be using his year off the sidelines to find back his motivation for Formula 1. The 33-year-old will still be connected to the F1 grid through his reserve role, taking part in several show runs and attending a few races in the year. As for 2024, the Aussie has indicated his desire to get back into a competitive team on the grid. ‘The Honey Badger’s absence from racing will be sorely missed and we hope that Danny Ric can discover his mojo again.

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