Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s smile will be missed by many Formula 1 fans. Photo credit MaxPPP.
Land Norris has just won the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. The English team takes the lead in the teams’ championship ahead of Red Bull but Max Verstappen retains 52 points ahead of Norris with just 6 races left in the 2024 season. And thanks to the fastest lap set at the end of the race by Daniel Ricciardo on his Racing Bulls (Red Bull’s sister team) which snatched him from Norris (taking away a point), the reigning triple world champion would only need to finish second in all the remaining races behind him for him to be crowned this year.
For Daniel Ricciardo, moreover, this Singapore Grand Prix is full of emotions. Penultimate in the race, the Australian did not shine and finished very far behind his teammate Yuki Tsunoda twelfth. But it was undoubtedly the very last race of his Formula 1 careerhis seat being taken over by the young and promising Liam Lawson from the next race according to persistent rumors (and the F1 organizers who let it be known in several official communications). After having already left Formula 1 once at the end of the 2022 season, Daniel Ricciardo no longer seems in a position to find a regular driver’s position elsewhere.
This is why his post-race interview was really sad: “There was a lot of emotion. I know it could be over. Plus I was very tired after the race, so it was a escalation of all these elements. The cockpit is something I had gotten used to for many years, and I wanted to savor this moment even today.”he confided to the microphone of Formula 1, struggling to find his words and with a small voice.
Daniel Ricciardo, the former very big odds
Making his Formula 1 debut in the 2011 season with the back-of-the-grid team HRT, Daniel Ricciardo first made his mark in his younger years at Toro Rosso before being preferred to his French teammate Jean-Eric Vergne to take over Mark Webber’s seat at Red Bull alongside Sebastian Vettel in 2014. This is where he literally exploded onto the sceneregularly beating his reigning four-time world champion teammate who already had the lead at Ferrari. Facing Max Verstappen from 2016, Daniel Ricciardo managed to stand up to the comparison with the Dutchman while the latter was still in the learning phase (including a memorable accident at the 2019 Baku Grand Prix while the two drivers were fighting for victory).
Perhaps prompted to leave by Verstappen’s big rise at Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo then joined Renault where he beat all his successive teammates in the drivers’ championship (Nico Hulkenberg then Esteban Ocon). Highly visible at the time with the top teams, he signed in 2020 for McLaren the following season and that’s where his career took a very unfavorable turn: unable to reach the level of his young teammate Lando Norris regularly at the wheel of a car he didn’t understand, he ended up being fired from the team despite an opportunistic victory at the 2021 Monza Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo still had a second chance at Toro Rosso (which became AlphaTauri then Racing Bulls) from the second half of the 2023 season, but he was also regularly outclassed by Yuki Tsunoda (himself regularly beaten by the Frenchman Pierre Gasly before Ricciardo). Tired of his regular poor performances, the management of Red Bull (which always influences the choices of its “B” team) decided to part ways with him, as many media outlets have reported in recent weeks. This Singapore Grand Prix is therefore very possibly his very last race and his legendary smile, as well as his positive attitude in all circumstanceswill be missed by the entire paddock and Formula 1 fans. History will remember some nice victories (he won eight in total), great overtaking moves, solid results (third in the drivers’ championship in 2014 and 2016 with Red Bull) and a unique character on the starting grid. But Formula 1 is merciless with drivers who get beaten by their teammates (except the sons of billionaires).
