Daniel Ricciardo Hints End of F1 Career With Emotional Confession: “Fairytale Ending Didn’t Happen”

Daniel Ricciardo Hints End of F1 Career With Emotional Confession: “Fairytale Ending Didn’t Happen”

In the build-up to the 2024 Singapore GP, speculation was mounting about Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 career. After the Grand Prix, it seems like Red Bull is ready to sack the 35-year-old from the Austin GP onwards.

While no official announcement has been made yet by either party, Ricciardo himself dropped a major hint about his future during the post-race media session. The Honey Badger admitted that he has made peace with the fact that Singapore might have been his final F1 race.

After getting the axe at McLaren in 2022, Ricciardo was signed up by Red Bull for their junior team AlphaTauri (now VCARB) mid-season in 2023. The idea was to see if they could promote him back to Red Bull. Ricciardo had expressed his desire to race for the Milton-Keynes-based team again as well, calling it a “fairytale ending”.

After the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the #3 driver admitted that maybe he wasn’t getting his fairytale ending after all. He said, “I put my best foot forward, let’s say the fairytale ending didn’t happen but I also have to look back on what it’s been.”

Despite this, he conceded that he had made peace with that fact. “I have to be prepared for this maybe being it. Let’s say I’m at peace with it,” he concluded.

Warning signs that Ricciardo has raced his last F1 Grand Prix at Singapore

Throughout the weekend, there has been a lot of talk about Ricciardo’s departure from the sport mid-way this season. However, the most ominous signs came after the Grand Prix had concluded.

Ricciardo took an extra bit longer in the cockpit of his VCARB car after the race — something he hadn’t done before. He explained later that he just wanted to savor the moment after racing in F1 for 13 years.

He received a guard of honor from guests outside the VCARB hospitality center. ESPN’s Nate Saunders took to X (formerly Twitter) to suggest that this could be a signing-off gesture from the team.

His fans also sensed Red Bull’s impending decision. As a result, the fans decided to vote for him as the Driver of the Day. He even bagged the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap of the 62-lap Grand Prix.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Singapore GP VCARB

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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