It was an open secret upon arriving in the streets of Singapore: it would be the 257th and last Grand Prix of Daniel Ricciardo’s career in Formula 1. The signs were numerous but officially, nothing was recorded and especially nothing. was announced. However, a few days later, the news was finally made public and the Australian disappeared from the radar through the back door.
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Laurent Mekies, the manager of Racing Bulls, admitted this weekend in Austin that this had generated frustration within the team even though this had been anticipated by both parties ahead of the weekend: “It was frustrating. And yes, you’re right, it wasn’t ideal to spend the weekend this way. First of all for him on a professional and personal level but also for the whole team around him. Daniel knew about it. Indeed, we had discussions before the weekend. For different reasons, we have chosen, together, to approach this weekend without announcing it. And from there we had to deal with it. It’s a decision that, in hindsight, we may or may not have made differently, but it’s something the team and driver have agreed to do. »
However, the Frenchman did not fail to point out that numerous goodbyes were published in the wake of the official announcement, by a large part of the paddock, which proves the unique character of Mister Smile: “He received a lot of love from all over the sport. This shows that he is bigger than just a Formula 1 driver.”
Now he’s focused on ramping up his new driver, Liam Lawson. If a debut on a weekend in the Sprint format is not the most obvious, the circumstances mean that the New Zealander faces less pressure: “We had to make a change to his power unit. This therefore reduces the power because it is very difficult to be able to score points starting far on the grid. Liam will therefore be able to use the whole weekend to build up his strength and be ready for Mexico. »
This will be necessary since Racing Bulls is engaged in a direct fight with Haas and Williams for sixth place in the championship: “At the moment, Haas and Williams are faster than us. We are therefore in a defensive position. » He thus recognized that improvements were still necessary to hope to maintain his three points lead over Haas by the end of the season.
From our special correspondent in Austin
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