Daniel Ricciardo has been roaming around the paddock to grab a seat in the 2023 season after the early termination of his current contract.
During the 2022 silly season, Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren mutually decided to end their contract early. This came due to the Australian’s underwhelming performance during his stint with the Woking-based team.
Following the chaotic silly season, there were 4 vacant seats in the paddock with Haas, Williams, Alpine and AlphaTauri. As per experts, the most suitable one for the Honey Badger among those was his old team Alpine(formerly known as Renault).
While none of the parties said they had any issues with each other, the talks between Ricciardo and Alpine did not progress. Though it is being reported that the Australian is in talks with Mercedes for the reserve driver role.
Nevertheless, as the season draws to an end, Ricciardo has now made his plans for 2023 clear. After the qualifying session of the Japanese GP, where he finished P13, the 33-year-old said that the reality is that he won’t be on the grid in 2023.
Meaning that the 8 GP winner will take a season off from the sport and will keep an out if an opportunity comes along.
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No Alpine for Daniel Ricciardo
After weeks of scouring through the paddock, the French team has finally signed a contract with Pierre Gasly, whose seat at AlphaTauri would be filled by Nyck De Vries in return.
The multi-year deal will see Gasly taking a seat next to his childhood/family friend and compatriot Esteban Ocon. In doing so, Alpine has created an all-French team.
Speaking about Alpine being his last hope for an F1 seat, Ricciardo told the race, “I knew they [Gasly and Alpine] were talking for a while.”
“I knew they were interested in Pierre. I was prepared for that, and no surprise. We were trying to, let’s say navigate our way around that and figure out what was next.”
Also Read: Why Jenson Button does not want Daniel Ricciardo to sign up for Mercedes job
Ricciardo’s bittersweet relationship with the French outfit
Ricciardo was with Renault(now Alpine) for two years before joining the McLaren team. His stint with the French team came to an unexpected end and while all sorts of weirdness was expected, Ricciardo instead brought two podiums for the team in the underperforming car.
Team principal Cyril Abiteboul had moved heaven and earth in managing funds to bring a driver like Ricciardo to Renault from Red Bull. But after Ricciardo decided to end his stint with the French outfit undoubdetdly it led the situations to become a bit sour in the garage.
Nevertheless, the two had quite an impressive run together as the Australian brought the French team their long-awaited podium at Nurburgring.
While leaving the team, Ricciardo admitted that he wanted to leave the team on a happy note; with no wounds left to fester.
