It’s official, Daniel Ricciardo is out of a drive in System 1, efficient instantly.
A yr in the past, he was attempting to get again as rapidly as doable from a damaged hand, aiming to earn himself a spot at Crimson Bull throughout future. The shape Sergio Perez has proven for almost all of this season actually opened the door for Ricciardo to stroll although, however he couldn’t take that chance.
4 point-scoring finishes, solely three of them in grands prix, and being comfortably outscored — and often outqualified — by teammate Yuki Tsunoda meant he didn’t make a compelling sufficient case to be promoted in Perez’s place in the course of the summer time break.
And as quickly as he failed to do this, the writing was on the wall.
Liam Lawson had made himself unattainable to disregard along with his performances at late discover as Ricciardo’s substitute final yr, and Tsunoda was doing the job within the early a part of this. The consistency and spark simply by no means fairly returned for Ricciardo, and it’s completely comprehensible that Crimson Bull determined it was time to see if Lawson might be a future driver for the principle workforce. However much less comprehensible is the best way it went about it.
As a veteran of 257 race begins, eight victories (seven of them with Crimson Bull) and 32 podiums, Ricciardo has obtained the pedigree that reveals why he was being given an opportunity to earn one other probability in race-winning equipment. The very fact he additionally took on a reserve position at Crimson Bull, and was keen to try to show himself within the RB, shows what that setting meant to him.
Ricciardo’s care-free type, in proof right here after his win within the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix. was excellent for Crimson Bull and helped make him a star. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Photos
However over the course of 4 days in Singapore, his demeanor went from saying he was anticipating a call on 2025 and to see out the remainder of this season, to fearing he’d raced an F1 automobile for the final time.
“The choice I count on is for subsequent yr,” Ricciardo stated per week in the past. “Clearly loopy issues have occurred on this sport. I’m additionally not going to face right here too boastful and assured and ‘oh yeah yeah.’ Like, I imagine I will probably be [racing at the U.S. Grand Prix], however let’s clearly see.”
By Sunday evening, an emotional Ricciardo all however confirmed he was out.
“I attempted to clearly get pleasure from it,” he stated after getting out of the automobile. “Somewhat bit like the top of ’22 at McLaren — clearly I used to be conscious possibly that was my final race, so I attempted to get pleasure from that.
“I believe I acknowledged additionally why I got here again into the game — generally you see the large image and I all the time stated I don’t wish to be a man who’s simply right here on the grid and preventing for a degree every so often, which has kinda been how this yr’s gone.
“Clearly this yr the aim was to try to do adequate to get again into Crimson Bull and struggle for wins once more, see if I’ve nonetheless obtained it. I felt like I got here up brief with that, so I believe it’s then, ‘OK, what else am I preventing for right here? What else goes to present me achievement?’
“I’ve been a younger driver as effectively and in some unspecified time in the future I don’t simply wish to take up area, additionally. Clearly you need to be egocentric, however for me if I’m not in a position to struggle on the entrance with Crimson Bull I’ve to ask myself, what am I staying on the grid for? That’s one thing I’ve additionally come to peace with.”
However what was so unusual was that Crimson Bull and RB had not confirmed Ricciardo’s departure at that stage, and he had clearly solely develop into conscious of how probably it was because the weekend developed. There was no capacity to plan something, to say goodbye correctly, and have a race when he and everybody else knew for sure that he was getting behind the wheel for the final time.
Ricciardo deserved higher than that.
The Crimson Bull exit in 2018 would possibly all the time hang-out him, however Ricciardo’s subsequent spell at Renault was nonetheless sturdy. It’s his outcomes since leaving Renault, nonetheless, that make it very powerful to argue that he deserves his place on the grid over somebody like Lawson any longer.
And changing him mid-season can be comprehensible. In the event you’ve obtained the substitute prepared and ready, beneath contract and obtainable, and also you’re going to place them in subsequent season anyway, why not get began?
However Ricciardo deserved a correct send-off. An opportunity to benefit from the second absolutely on the finish of a formidable profession. He’s a driver who has carried out a lot for the recognition of the game and Crimson Bull inside it, and at his greatest he was electrifying. So, the least he ought to have acquired was the flexibility to make an announcement earlier than his remaining race and step out of the cockpit for the final time with readability.
Even amid his 2024 struggles, Ricciardo remained a fan favourite, making the style of his exit irritating each for these followers, Ricciardo himself and, in the end, his successor. Andy Hone/Motorsport Photos
There’s a knock-on impression on Lawson, too, who hasn’t been in a position to benefit from the promotion in the identical means. Rumors flying round that led to criticism of Crimson Bull — and followers upset on the prospect of dropping some of the in style drivers on the grid — finally added as much as a scarcity of area to truly rejoice the promotion of one other thrilling younger expertise, presumably as a result of it may appear tasteless in opposition to that backdrop.
If that is certainly the top of the F1 highway for Ricciardo, he ought to have been in a position to retire on the very least barely on his personal phrases. As an alternative, it got here all the way down to a brief Instagram message:
“I’ve cherished this sport my entire life. It’s wild and fantastic and been a journey.
“To the groups and people which have performed their half, thanks. To the followers who love the game generally greater than me, haha, thanks. It’ll all the time have its highs and lows but it surely’s been enjoyable and reality be instructed I wouldn’t change it.
“Till the subsequent journey.”
What that subsequent journey is stays to be seen, but it surely’s an actual disgrace the final race went down with out so a lot of his followers actually figuring out it.
