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Daniel Ricciardo “grateful” for F1 axing that spared difficult decision
Daniel Ricciardo lost his seat following the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he is “grateful” to RB for taking the “hard” decision out of his hands to exit Formula 1, after a difficult final comeback attempt.
Ricciardo was one of the best drivers in F1 at his pomp, but after leaving Red Bull to join Renault in 2019 he was rarely able to recapture his race-winning potential.
Despite taking victory for McLaren in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, McLaren’s first success since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix with Jenson Button, the team dropped him at the end of 2022, and he was unable to secure a full-time seat for the following campaign.
Announced as Red Bull’s reserve driver, he returned to action with AlphaTauri midway through the season, only to injure his wrist in a crash at Zandvoort on his third race weekend.
“It was such a nothing accident, but I missed however many races, I was out for 10 weeks or something,” said Ricciardo in a video released by Ford.
“Is this now a bit of a sign, like, should I just quit while I’m ahead, nearly. And I was like, no, there’s still unfinished business, and I pushed through it.”
Ricciardo was retained by the team – then RB – for 2024, but results were hard to come by, and he was replaced by Liam Lawson following the Singapore Grand Prix.
“Once that happened, I’d been let go twice in the last two years. It had also taken a lot out of me. I’d put a lot of my soul into it and I did feel pretty exhausted by it,” he said.
“In reflection, I was grateful that they made the decision for me, because I think it would have been hard to [say]: ‘I’m done’.”
Ricciardo added: “I think I knew I was probably done because I knew that it was harder for me to perform at the level I could.
“Okay, Alonso, these guys, they’re in their forties in F1, [still] competing very highly. For whatever reason, I lost a little bit of something, and it’s okay to admit it, it’s fine.”
Despite the difficult few years, there was still a longing to see the likeable Australian return to his best form, and Ricciardo was not short of people who would offer encouragement to get back in the cockpit. Shutting this out, Ricciardo says, was crucial to accepting his situation.
“There’s people that love you and will still tell you that you’re great and you can do it. But as much as you love them as well, you need to just close the door and make that decision on your own and be really honest with yourself,” he reflected.
“If I would have got to the end of last year, I think I would have still had a lot of these thoughts and had the conversation with myself because I knew it was becoming harder for me and I had to dig really deep to pull out a result that I was proud of.
“You always want to believe everyone’s looking out for you, and they probably still are, but they don’t know what it’s like to be you and in your situation.”
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Daniel Ricciardo lost his seat following the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he is “grateful” to RB for taking the “hard” decision out of his hands to exit Formula 1, after a difficult final comeback attempt.
Ricciardo was one of the best drivers in F1 at his pomp, but after leaving Red Bull to join Renault in 2019 he was rarely able to recapture his race-winning potential.
Despite taking victory for McLaren in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, McLaren’s first success since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix with Jenson Button, the team dropped him at the end of 2022, and he was unable to secure a full-time seat for the following campaign.
Announced as Red Bull’s reserve driver, he returned to action with AlphaTauri midway through the season, only to injure his wrist in a crash at Zandvoort on his third race weekend.
“It was such a nothing accident, but I missed however many races, I was out for 10 weeks or something,” said Ricciardo in a video released by Ford.
“Is this now a bit of a sign, like, should I just quit while I’m ahead, nearly. And I was like, no, there’s still unfinished business, and I pushed through it.”
Ricciardo was retained by the team – then RB – for 2024, but results were hard to come by, and he was replaced by Liam Lawson following the Singapore Grand Prix.
“Once that happened, I’d been let go twice in the last two years. It had also taken a lot out of me. I’d put a lot of my soul into it and I did feel pretty exhausted by it,” he said.
“In reflection, I was grateful that they made the decision for me, because I think it would have been hard to [say]: ‘I’m done’.”
Ricciardo added: “I think I knew I was probably done because I knew that it was harder for me to perform at the level I could.
“Okay, Alonso, these guys, they’re in their forties in F1, [still] competing very highly. For whatever reason, I lost a little bit of something, and it’s okay to admit it, it’s fine.”
Despite the difficult few years, there was still a longing to see the likeable Australian return to his best form, and Ricciardo was not short of people who would offer encouragement to get back in the cockpit. Shutting this out, Ricciardo says, was crucial to accepting his situation.
“There’s people that love you and will still tell you that you’re great and you can do it. But as much as you love them as well, you need to just close the door and make that decision on your own and be really honest with yourself,” he reflected.
“If I would have got to the end of last year, I think I would have still had a lot of these thoughts and had the conversation with myself because I knew it was becoming harder for me and I had to dig really deep to pull out a result that I was proud of.
“You always want to believe everyone’s looking out for you, and they probably still are, but they don’t know what it’s like to be you and in your situation.”
Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he is “grateful” to RB for taking the “hard” decision out of his hands to exit Formula 1, after a difficult final comeback attempt.
Ricciardo was one of the best drivers in F1 at his pomp, but after leaving Red Bull to join Renault in 2019 he was rarely able to recapture his race-winning potential.
Despite taking victory for McLaren in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, McLaren’s first success since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix with Jenson Button, the team dropped him at the end of 2022, and he was unable to secure a full-time seat for the following campaign.
Announced as Red Bull’s reserve driver, he returned to action with AlphaTauri midway through the season, only to injure his wrist in a crash at Zandvoort on his third race weekend.
“It was such a nothing accident, but I missed however many races, I was out for 10 weeks or something,” said Ricciardo in a video released by Ford.
“Is this now a bit of a sign, like, should I just quit while I’m ahead, nearly. And I was like, no, there’s still unfinished business, and I pushed through it.”
Ricciardo was retained by the team – then RB – for 2024, but results were hard to come by, and he was replaced by Liam Lawson following the Singapore Grand Prix.
“Once that happened, I’d been let go twice in the last two years. It had also taken a lot out of me. I’d put a lot of my soul into it and I did feel pretty exhausted by it,” he said.
“In reflection, I was grateful that they made the decision for me, because I think it would have been hard to [say]: ‘I’m done’.”
Ricciardo added: “I think I knew I was probably done because I knew that it was harder for me to perform at the level I could.
“Okay, Alonso, these guys, they’re in their forties in F1, [still] competing very highly. For whatever reason, I lost a little bit of something, and it’s okay to admit it, it’s fine.”
Despite the difficult few years, there was still a longing to see the likeable Australian return to his best form, and Ricciardo was not short of people who would offer encouragement to get back in the cockpit. Shutting this out, Ricciardo says, was crucial to accepting his situation.
“There’s people that love you and will still tell you that you’re great and you can do it. But as much as you love them as well, you need to just close the door and make that decision on your own and be really honest with yourself,” he reflected.
“If I would have got to the end of last year, I think I would have still had a lot of these thoughts and had the conversation with myself because I knew it was becoming harder for me and I had to dig really deep to pull out a result that I was proud of.
“You always want to believe everyone’s looking out for you, and they probably still are, but they don’t know what it’s like to be you and in your situation.”
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