This was by no means how Daniel Ricciardo’s Method One profession was supposed to finish.
For a driver who as soon as seemed like a possible world champion and shortly gained over followers via his affable nature and infectious character, he deserved a correct send-off after 13 years on the grid.
As an alternative, he was left in limbo. To deal with final Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix as, unofficially, his final grand prix, with none closure or a call over whether or not he’d be again in Austin subsequent month.
That didn’t arrive till Thursday, 4 days after Ricciardo had stated what he anticipated can be his closing farewells to the F1 paddock, when Pink Bull confirmed his departure.
It put an finish to what had become Schrödinger’s driver resolution: Ricciardo was each leaving and but to go away. Ricciardo’s emotion on Sunday made clear what was going to occur. But he’d been robbed of the prospect to correctly say goodbye to F1. It was all achieved with an asterisk.
Via his media periods on Thursday in Singapore, Ricciardo acknowledged the hypothesis that he may very well be changed by Liam Lawson, Pink Bull’s reserve driver, as early as the following race. However he appeared extra fearful about 2025 than the rest of the season. He didn’t seem to noticeably assume that it was his final F1 race.
By Saturday, as Ricciardo digested his Q1 exit that left him sixteenth on the grid, whereas RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda made it via to Q3, his tone and physique language urged there’d been a shift. What turned a chance had now turn out to be assumed as truth.
He made a concerted effort to absorb each single second of Sunday, realizing this may very well be the ultimate time he raced in F1. That even prolonged to taking a bit additional time to sit down in his automobile earlier than getting out after the checkered flag. It had been his residence for over a decade.
“The cockpit is one thing that … I bought very used to for a few years,” Ricciardo stated in an emotional interview with F1 TV after the race, preventing again tears. “I simply needed to savor the second.”
Danny Ric ❤️
An emotional Daniel Ricciardo speaks after the #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/53hD09HZ4z
— Method 1 (@F1) September 22, 2024
Ricciardo is probably not the grand-prix driver he as soon as was at Pink Bull. The one who burst onto the scene and instantly put Sebastian Vettel, then the reigning four-time world champion, within the shade in 2014. Or who produced magic across the streets of Monaco in 2018, redemption for his heartbreaking loss two years earlier. Or who put up a real problem to Max Verstappen, now acknowledged as an F1 nice, of their time as teammates.
However he deserved so significantly better than this protracted, awkward exit that ended up dragging out right into a scenario the place there have been zero winners.
At the same time as Ricciardo spoke like a person who’d raced for the ultimate time in F1 on Sunday, the official line from Pink Bull and RB was that no resolution had been taken. The one acknowledgement of the potential change in driver lineup got here in RB’s post-race press launch when, in explaining the choice to pit Ricciardo for the quick lap late on, crew principal Laurent Mekies famous it “might have been Daniel’s final race.” Pink Bull F1 chief Christian Horner stated on Sunday that the break earlier than Austin was an opportunity to evaluate the driving force performances throughout Pink Bull’s two groups, and that Ricciardo was “only one a part of the jigsaw.”
The explanation that evaluate needed to happen now’s Lawson, and the necessity to make a name on his future or danger dropping him because of clauses in his contract. If Pink Bull had did not get him on the F1 grid, then he’d be free to go away its driver setup. Given how properly he carried out throughout his five-race stint whereas Ricciardo was out injured final 12 months, Pink Bull didn’t need to lose a expertise that would play an enormous half in its F1 future.
However for Ricciardo, the timing meant that, if Pink Bull needed to drag the set off and make a change with six races left within the season, there was at all times this danger he’d be robbed of a correct F1 farewell except a call had been made previous to Singapore.
Daniel Ricciardo sports activities a cowboy hat forward of the 2018 U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. His affable character gained over many followers. (Mark Thompson / Getty Pictures)
And of all races to not be at, the US Grand Prix in Austin, the place Ricciardo leans absolutely into the spirit of the race — he’s sported Texas Longhorns jerseys, cowboy hats, and even entered the paddock on horseback one 12 months — feels just like the worst one to make a change earlier than. His industrial attraction, particularly in the US, stays simple.
The efficiency causes behind the choice are comprehensible. Ricciardo has just one level within the final seven races, and Lawson confirmed what he can do throughout his five-race cameo final 12 months. With Haas closing in on RB within the constructors’ championship standings, generally robust calls have to be taken for the sake of the broader crew.
It’s the ready that turned this example right into a lose-lose for Pink Bull. Had it been introduced that Singapore can be Ricciardo’s final race, he’d have obtained the prospect to completely embrace the grand prix weekend and get a correct send-off. There wouldn’t have been the unusual uncertainty, the doubt-laden solutions. Nothing capable of be stated with any assurance or confidence.
That every one left the F1 group to say a comfortable goodbye. Social media has been rife with movies of Ricciardo’s emotional chats in Singapore, edits set to “Pink Skies,” his favourite tune by Zach Bryan, and clips of his well-known “benefit from the butterflies” interview. All of it was on the belief of a call that didn’t get confirmed till days later.
No, we’re not dropping certainly one of F1’s all-time greats, and even among the best drivers on the grid proper now. It’s however an abrupt, unhappy farewell to somebody who has performed an enormous function in defining F1 via the 2010s and performed a major half in Pink Bull’s F1 historical past.
F1 may be ruthless. That’s no secret. However for somebody who has put a lot of his coronary heart and character into being extra than simply one other F1 driver, Ricciardo deserved higher.
Daniel Ricciardo celebrates in type after successful the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, two years after a foul pit cease price him the victory there. (Dan Istitene / Getty Pictures)
(Prime photograph of Daniel Ricciardo after the Singapore Grand Prix: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Pictures)