‘I’m still keen to be part of F1,’ Daniel Ricciardo opens up on his ‘uncertain’ future with no confirmed seat for 2023


‘I’m still keen to be part of F1,’ Daniel Ricciardo opens up on his ‘uncertain’ future with no confirmed seat for 2023

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo is suffering with his 2022 form, and he has lost his McLaren seat. Ricciardo joined the British team in 2021 when they seemed like a fairly decent car with a fighting spirit that could get them back to the top. But the Australian struggled in his first season with McLaren, though he managed a win with them, that’s the maximum he could do throughout the season.

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People turned up to Ricciardo for 2022 with an expectation of getting the team back to where it belongs. But 2022 turned out to be worse than what he had in 2021. McLaren weren’t really prepared with the 2022 regulations and suffered a big blow at the first two races. They managed a comeback later on but that still wasn’t enough to get the team back to competing for the podiums as was the case last year.

Ricciardo when asked about his future venture, said: “My headspace is in the same space. I’m still keen to be… part of F1. Plan A would be to be on the grid, but nothing’s changed. My [management] team is talking with, I want to say, pretty much everyone, or they’re having conversations.”

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Daniel Ricciardo: ‘At peace with whatever will happen’

Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo did say he would be realistic about the next season and would prefer a reserve driver seat for a top team than a racing seat at a team which is bottom of the grid. Another possibility for the Aussie is having no seat at all for the next season. To which he replied in a very optimistic manner.

According to formula1.com, Ricciardo said there could be a ‘blessing’ in not having a racing seat: “[A reserve role is] certainly something that’s realistic, yeah. With next year, if I’m not to be racing [in F1], then I feel like there could be a blessing in all that.”

Ricciardo says that he is at peace with whatever may come his way next year: “So that’s why [I’m] at peace with whatever’s going to happen in ’23, because I feel like everything’s going to happen for a reason and all these things will make sense. Having a few weeks off was good to get some headspace, clarity, all those things.”

While people would like to see the Honey Badger stay in F1, right now it’s not looking amazing. He doesn’t have a confirmed seat, and his performances are not really improving either. He has been struggling since he joined McLaren, which is put down to the car not suiting him, but you can’t wait for it to click forever.

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