What does the future hold for Daniel Ricciardo?

Arthur Viana; September 5, 2022

Daniel Ricciardo. One of the most charismatic, beloved, and talented drivers that Formula 1 has had this decade. Going to McLaren in 2021 seemed like the perfect fit, a comeback to a top team after a good spell at Renault. But unfortunately, we all know that things didn’t go their way. While his teammate, Lando Norris, was being one of the most consistent drivers on the grid and getting some podium finishes every now and then, Ricciardo had problems adjusting himself with the team, and with the car. His fans, McLaren fans, and F1 fans in general just couldn’t understand that situation, that wasn’t the Daniel Ricciardo we all knew. He was consistently beaten by Norris and almost always struggled to finish in the points. It seemed like the tables would turn when he got that win in Monza, the first McLaren victory in almost 10 years, but at the end of the season, it was clear that his win was something atypical, and he never got a podium again.

At his second season with McLaren, things are still bad. Sure, it’s a fact that the car is worse than last year, but his results are still way worse than Norris’. He just couldn’t adapt at all, so the team has decided to end his contract early and let Ricciardo go at the end of the season, which in my opinion, was an understandable decision. Even more so when they went after and signed Oscar Piastri, who was the hottest free agent in the market. Daniel does have options for 2023, though. I’ll go through them here and share some thoughts.

The first one that came up was Alpine. Personally, I would like to see that happen. He already knows the team (most of it, anyways) from his Renault days, has worked alongside Esteban Ocon and beat him by an impressive 57 points. Maybe it’s not the most ambitious move, but still, it would probably be the safest. The problem is that Alpine are already considering another name, that being Pierre Gasly. The AlphaTauri driver has been linked heavily with the French team over these past weeks and apparently, he is their main target. With Gasly not wanting to be stuck with Red Bull forever, I believe that this move has a lot of potential to happen, therefore, ruling Daniel Ricciardo out of the equation.

With the Gasly-Alpine rumors growing, Ricciardo was briefly linked with AlphaTauri, but this move makes absolute zero sense in my mind, so I’m just going to skip it. Haas is possibly an option if Mick Schumacher does end up getting dropped by the team, but I think it’s a very risky move for Daniel. Haas is the team with the least amount of money to spend, which makes them naturally struggle a little more than other teams. But they’ve gotten better this year, constantly fighting for points. In my opinion, though, going to Haas is a shot in the dark. It’s very hard to tell if they are going to improve, or if they are going back to being one of the worst cars on the grid. They've made a name for themselves in the "inconsistent" area. It would be interesting, for sure, but I don’t know if that’s what Ricciardo is looking for.

Another team that would definitely welcome Ricciardo is Williams. Nicholas Latifi’s days as an F1 driver seem to be getting close to an end, and with the open seat, it could happen. Williams is the worst team on the grid, but they seem to be adjusting themselves. Alex Albon was a great signing as he’s carrying the team this season, and in my eyes at least, Ricciardo could only help them restructure themselves even further. But, if Haas was a shot in the dark, Williams is two shots. No one expects them to jump to the front, but can we really expect them to do next year what Haas is doing this year, for example? Every season we say: “Williams is getting better, they’ll probably get some good points this time”, and it never happens. It’s difficult to trust in a team with that many letdowns, and I would understand if Ricciardo turned down the possibility to drive for them.

Here's the last option for Daniel Ricciardo, and the one I believe is the most likely to happen: a sabbatical year. He has made it pretty clear that his only interest is staying in F1, instead of possibly moving to IndyCar or any other category. But his potential offers aren’t that appealing if I’m being honest. Although a sabbatical doesn’t seem bad, I think it would be. There’s a lot of new talent coming through. For 2023, Oscar Piastri is already confirmed, Felipe Drugovich will have eyes on him as the Formula 2 Champion, Yuki Tsunoda is… there, Guanyu Zhou is having a decent rookie season and even IndyCar’s Colton Herta has been linked to F1. Making a comeback in 2024 would be also hard, as names like F2’s Theo Pourchaire and Logan Sargeant, and Indy’s Pato O’Ward are also coming for these empty F1 seats, and it’s natural that a team would prioritize the new and upcoming talents rather than a veteran with an inactive year.

We’ve seen something similar happen to Nico Hulkenberg. No one wanted him to be more than a reserve driver after he was dumped by his team. Could we be looking at the end of Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 career? Maybe. Would it be fair to a driver with eight F1 wins on his résumé? Probably not, but it's also hard to say that it would be fair for any team to give away a seat to a driver that screams "washed up". What a melancholic end it would be to one of the most radiant drivers we've ever seen.