Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, Zandvoort, 2022

“If I’m not on the grid next year, I’m okay with that” – Ricciardo

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In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo says he’s accepted the possibility he may not find a team to drive for in the 2023 Formula 1 season.

In brief

Ricciardo braced for year out

After agreeing with McLaren to cut his tenure at the team short by a year, Ricciardo says he’s prepared for next year to be the first time he’s been absent from the F1 grid since he made his debut for HRT in 2011.

“I’ve certainly accepted, if I’m not to be on the grid next year, I’m okay with that,” said Ricciardo following Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. “So I’ve accepted that I’m not going to do everything, or my [management] team’s not going to do everything just to put me on the grid if it’s not right or it doesn’t make sense.

“Obviously this year’s been challenging and if I am on the grid, I want to know that it’s a place that I can enjoy it and feel like I can thrive. An environment I feel I can thrive in. I don’t want to just jump into a car for the sake of it.”

Last year’s Italian Grand Prix winner retired from Sunday’s race while running in eighth place, having started fourth. “Days like this certainly are pretty frustrating,” he admitted.

“But give it 24, 48 hours and I’ll get over it and try to understand what’s best for next year. Not in an overconfident or cocky way, but it’s not meant to be, then I’m totally okay with that. I’m not going to be too proud. We haven’t certainly given up on it, but that’s kind of where my head’s at, at the moment.”

F1 invites views on sprint races

A survey on the official F1 FanVoice website indicates the series is considering yet more changes to its sprint race format, which was introduced last year to a mixed reception from fans. The poll invites respondents to indicate what they like most and least about the format.

It also seeks to gauge viewers’ attitudes towards potential changes to the format, including making them “‘stand alone’ races not related to defining positions on the starting grid” and “providing an opportunity for reserve [or] younger drivers to compete in F1 cars.” Reverse grids, touted again by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali in a recent interview, are not mentioned.

Blakely wins F1 Esports opener

McLaren Shadow’s Lucas Blakely won the opening race of the F1 Esports championship in his first apperance for the team. He resisted a last-lap charge by reigning champion Jarno Opmeer, who passed the other McLaren of Bari Borumand on the penultimate lap. Opmeer was incorrectly shown as the winner on the official timing screen after the race.

The series continues with a race at Imola today followed by Silverstone tomorrow.

Upcoming F1 tyre choices confirmed

Formula 1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli has confirmed its compound selection for the upcoming two races. It will bring its softest tyre selection for Singapore (C3, C4 and C5) and its hardest for Suzuka (C1, C2 and C3).

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Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

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Comment of the day

McLaren’s latest sponsor acquisition has a certain irony about it:

Jack (in) Daniel’s (job) at McLaren.
Electroball76

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Siy, Butch27, Warfieldf1 and Sudhi!

On this day in motorsport

Ferrari ran rampant at home today in 2002, winning by over 50 seconds
  • 20 years ago today Rubens Barrichello led Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari one-two at Monza

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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33 comments on ““If I’m not on the grid next year, I’m okay with that” – Ricciardo”

  1. I’m okay with that

    We know that, mate. You took the money.

    Oh well, enjoy your life.

    1. I don’t understand this bitterness toward Daniel taking the money; McLaren had made their mind up about who they wanted to drive for them. I’m not sure how the budget cap would fit into it but if Daniel did not take the money it’s possible McLaren would have retained him but sat him out for the season, a much worse outcome for him.

      1. It’s the internet. Everyone is bitter round here :P

      2. I don’t understand this bitterness toward Daniel taking the money

        Max’ fan–boys !

        1. Ah yes, more bitterness

      3. bitterness toward Daniel

        Bitterness?`

        This person had a contract for a race seat and was -just a few weeks ago- rather adamant about fulfilling said contract.

        Then this person took money to go away.

        Of course, he’s “okay with” not being in Formula 1. That is self-evident in his actions.

        1. Wow. That’s not how it went at all.

        2. So, what was he supposed to do when McLaren told him that they no longer wanted him and were withdrawing from the contract?

          If McLaren were telling him that they will exercise their right within the contract to terminate the deal early and pay him the remainder, there is no legal mechanism for Ricciardo to force McLaren to keep the seat open for him.

          It’s not just his decision – McLaren have to agree to a deal as well, and in this case they made it clear that they were not going to agree to keep him however much he might want to stay.

        3. @proesterchen , it sounds like you’re thinking this is what has happened:

          McL: DR, you haven’t in the last 1.5 years delivered the results we were hoping for and it’s costing us a lot of points and prizes with no little hope for turnaround in sight. We want to cut you loose end of the year and we aren’t going to pay for your next year coz you have under-delivered while we’ve already paid you handsomely for two years.
          DR: Give me the money for next year or I won’t walk, I’ll sit in this car seat right here next year.

          When in reality, this is what has happened:

          (back in mid-2020)
          McL: DR, we want you in our car next year and we’re willing to pay this hefty salary for you to walk away from Renault.
          DR: Guys, in this Renault, I’m beating your drivers and am almost ‘best of the rest’. And McL has been floundering the last few years. How do I know this car has performance potential? It may very well make me look like I’m underperforming. What incentive is there for me to take this downward step?
          McL: Fair points. Ok, we’ll exclude any performance clauses for you, we’ll give you a three year contract which only you can choose to terminate, we can’t fire you, and we’ll up our cash offer. That’s guaranteed pay for three years unless YOU decide to leave. Please please, we desperately want you here next year.
          DR: I love F1! Deal!

          DR is getting paid for next year not because he didn’t perform for McL, it’s because of the contract he had gotten to walk away from a superior car (for his style) and gamble his reputation for them.

    2. He’s a professional driver & his management has a job to get him the highest salary they can
      It seems you are a fool if you think it’s Daniels fault for taking the money, it’s been reported before he took less money leaving Renault to join Maclaren thinking Maclaren would give him a better chance of winning races, it didn’t.
      You don’t seem to be down on Alonso who leaves teams & takes the money (allegedly more than Daniel) so I can only guess it’s jealousy because it’s not you
      Also Maclaren were the ones to agree with the contract & no one held a gun to Zac Brown’s head to agree & sign it

      1. His problem was that his management was working NOT in his favour but for a other driver…. Taking money when you get booted out is a good thing but he should fire Mark Weber too.

        Waiting for a Mercedes seat he can forget as Lewis want to contine after 2023.

        1. It isn’t possible for Ricciardo to fire Mark Webber as he is not managing him. Mark actually managed his own driver Piastri into Daniels seat, so if anything Ricciardo should hire someone like Mark to find him a highly sought after seat. Maybe someone schooled from the Machiavellian stable to that Flavio trains would find a suitable drive for him

      2. What is this, a creative writing class?

        Daniel had a contract for a seat. He took money to go away. Of course, he’s “okay with” not being in Formula 1. His actions demonstrated that perfectly.

        1. You’re intimating that he CHOSE not to drive? Oh my sweet child.

          F1 pundits and fans of the memory of fleas. I know JV likes to stir the pot. So, it’s hard to know when he’s being serious, but a guy who was given nearly a decade of poor driving to try and turn it around after 1 decent season (in which he only needed to be better than HHF) said DR has been driving badly for half his career.

          Well, that’s an odd statement considering DR has only had 1 terrible year and never finished a WDC below 9th since 2014:
          3 – 8 – 3 – 4 -6 – 9 – 5 – 8.

          DR has had 1 terrible year: 2022
          DR did not have a terrible ‘21: 8th in the WDC. Disappointing, but not terrible.

          1. You’re intimating that he CHOSE not to drive?

            No need to intimate anything. Daniel had a contract for 2023. Daniel chose to take a pay-off to give up that contract.

        2. You need to go back to school. Clearly.

  2. & he should, although a Team Enstone return could still be on the cards, depending on Gasly’s situation but more likely a reserve role than returning to where he was in the 2019 & ’20 seasons.

  3. F1 invites views on sprint races

    Rename them as “F1 Lite”, run them in the morning (any day, I’m not dictating) before any of the proper F1 schedule.
    All drivers are F1 test or academy drivers, so it’s experience for the potential rookies.

    There you go, all the established F1 fans are happy and the people with a short attention span also have an event they can relate to, plus potential new drivers get to drive an F1 car competitively – probably best to use last year’s to keep costs down.

    Not an old fossil, I’ve even gone trendy with the use of “Lite” :)

    1. Not an old fossil, I’ve even gone trendy with the use of “Lite” :)

      You must give it to the Americans, those clever people being able to cut one letter from the word ‘light’.
      But I guess they still trail the French who have been using ‘lait’ for centuries ;)

  4. What is this sudden fascination with Indycar drivers? Is the quality of current drivers in the F1 feeder series that bad? Or is it just the desire to have American drivers on the grid because of new tracks?

    1. Just look at the comments that Zak Brown has made about the possibility of major sponsors from the US for an explanation (and you can add to that the fact that Liberty Media has explicitly stated that they want to expand the sport in the US).

    2. What is this sudden fascination with Indycar drivers?

      Nobody cares about them because they’re Indycar drivers. The F1 world – or at least parts of it – cares about Americans with superlicense points for the same reason they care about anything: they see it as a path to getting even more money for themselves.

      Joseph Newgarden is by far the best (Danish-)American in that sense, but he has no real interest in racing in F1, though he didn’t outright reject it earlier this year when he commented: “I think IndyCar is really where you’re going to get the most competitive product as a racing driver. When you’re a driver at the top level, you want to have an opportunity to compete, to win the championship, to win big races regardless of your situation. I think unfortunately that’s not present in Formula 1. So from that standpoint, it’s not as appealing. But I’d never say never on anything. You just never know how this stuff shifts.”

  5. Or is it just the desire to have American drivers on the grid because of new tracks?

    Yes, but “new owners” not “new tracks”, although two new are American and that’s probably due to the new owners

  6. I like the race of champions, yes, but I prefer what they did in the nineties. They held the Elf masters in Bercy, on a temporary indoor kart track. It gave us Senna and Prost, but then in karting. Of course many more big names and also cross overs. Amazing to watch, youtube has some footage. It’s just great to watch the big names go back to their roots. And I just want to see the current F1 grid duking it out in the same karts.. badly

    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8XRz5s0nhE

      Have to add a small sample. Shame Senna’s engine gave up.
      Still, I’ll repeat: I want the current grid dong this…

      1. Agree, I remember it well. Think I still have a video tape of it.

        The excitement of seeing Senna, Prost and many other top drivers competing in karts was utterly mind blowing. Still to this day watching those clips it looks so surreal!

  7. I think if Daniel takes a year out after this disastrous spell at Mclaren, he won’t be back. Honestly he’ll be lucky to get a seat for next 2023, and F1 moves on quickly. If he were an Alonso or a Hamilton then maybe, but his stock is not great at the moment. IMO he would be better off taking a one year contract at Williams or Haas and building his reputation up again.

    1. I agree. This is the exit. There is not going to be a seat after a year off for Ricciardo. We’ve seen the fantastic smile, but we haven’t seen an ambitious self learning driver.

  8. I see today’s reports that Alpine are looking for a driver capable of bringing big points to the team- hardly surprising.

    In 2020 Ricciardo came 5th in the championship, with 119 points (behind Ham, Bot, Ver and Per). Ocon, his Renault teammate, came 12th with 62 points.

    Pride and salary negotiations should not get in the way of Alpine taking the best available driver on the market- Ricciardo.

    1. Pride and salary negotiations should not get in the way of Alpine taking the best available driver on the market- Ricciardo.

      ROFL. This is Alpine (Renault) F1 we’re talking about, they lost 2x WDC by stalling and mucking about, they lost a promising newbie by stalling and mucking about.
      In both cases, they were surprised that the driver in question looked elsewhere.

      You couldn’t make it up and have it any funnier.

  9. Sette Camara (as well as the other drivers) have the best seat to look those FE cars. From the outside they look hideous but I bet they are fun to drive and the view is amazing too

  10. A shoey too far? With Ricciardo on a podium no celebrity in his proximity was safe.

  11. Let Lewis retire and get Danny. Save 10s of millions of dollars a year while you’re at it. Let’s face it, by 2030 or sooner (if you’ve been listening carefully) Mercedes won’t have much of a client base left. Neither will any other car manufacturer for that matter.

Comments are closed.