It’s Not Goodbye but See You Later
Daniel Ricciardo won't be in F1 next year. He’s targeting a return in 2024.
Daniel Ricciardo has already confirmed that he doesn’t believe that he will be on the grid next year. His thoughts are in line with what everyone expected after the announcement from Alpine confirming Pierre Gasly as their driver for next season superseding Fernando Alonso and with AlphaTauri moving fast securing Nyck De Vries as Pierre’s replacement.
Alpine was probably the best remaining option for him. Despite this being seen as a step back, since he raced with the team when was branded as Renault. They have been competitive this season with both cars and are fighting for the 4th place in the Championship with Ricciardo’s team McLaren. With this door closed, the only options left are Haas and Williams.
As Daniel said himself, he wanted to remain in Formula One only to compete for the Championship. And, that probably won't be the objective in the next few years for both Haas and Williams. These teams have shown some improvement since last season, but thinking that they can even fight for a podium next year is wishful thinking. So, this is why Danny Ric might not be attracted to them.
“I'm Back.”
With these options left on the table, seems like his only choice is to take a year off. But, the Honey Badger said he’d be happy to take on a reserve role with a team. So, it wouldn't be an off-year. He will still be involved with F1 and looking for a quick comeback: “I think it’s now just trying to set up for 2024.”
And, the 33-year-old has his reasons to believe it's possible to be part of the grid in 2024. There are many examples of drivers that have done that in the past and are part of the current grid. Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon were without teams for the 2019 and 2021 seasons respectively having similar roles as reserve and test drivers for Mercedes and Red Bull. But, something that probably played in their favor was their age, they were still young and signing drivers with many years left in the sport, and with that much experience seemed like an easy decision for both Renault (now Alpine) and Williams.
Despite this, more experienced drivers like Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen returned to the grid after a couple of years of absence. And more recently, Kevin Magnussen replaced Nikita Mazepin at Haas after leaving the team in 2020. These drivers were not as young as the pair mentioned above, and still, teams admired their experience and gave them an opportunity.
The best possible scenario for Daniel is to have a similar experience as these drivers, be part of a team as a reserve driver (Mercedes are reportedly interested), and then impress everyone with an ‘I'm back’ type of statement in 2024.
The Bottom Line
Teams might have doubts because of his age, but his talent is undeniable. Something that two elite drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton agree with. The German recently said: “I guess McLaren failed to extract the potential that he has. I’m sure ultimately the talent he has and the qualities he has will shine through.” While the Mercedes driver claimed that: “He’s far too talented to [be a third driver] and he’s earned the right to be amongst us all racing.”
It will be very difficult (at least for me) to have a Formula One season without the Honey Badger, but let's hope he can be back in 2024 to keep entertaining us on and off the track.
If he returns in the 2024 season, which team do you think he will be part of? Let me know!
Thank you for reading! I will leave other stories below in case you may be interested, feel free to check them out:
