Is Daniel Ricciardo retiring?: Where will the former Red Bull driver be racing in 2023?

Will Daniel Ricciardo be retiring? The 33-year-old former Red Bull driver’s future in Formula 1 is up in the air. 

Ricciardo’s 2022 season turned out to be the worst of his career so far. Ever since moving to McLaren in 2021, his career has been going on a downward trajectory. Partnering up with Lando Norris seemed like a very promising move on paper but it didn’t turn out to be fruitful.

Norris has comprehensively outperformed Ricciardo and the 2022 season, in particular, has been a nightmare for the latter. McLaren decided to pull the plug early and even though the honey badger has a year left on his contract with the team, they announced that he would be replaced at the end of this season. Ricciardo’s young compatriot Oscar Piastri will replace him in the papaya outfit.

Now that his McLaren journey is coming to an end, questions have started to arise as to where Ricciardo will be in 2023. He’s one of the most popular and marketable drivers on the grid, so it’s unfathomable to think that he won’t be in the grid next campaign.

As things stand, Ricciardo won’t be a part of the F1 grid next year.

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Will Daniel Ricciardo be retiring from F1 in 2023?

Ricciardo has not made his plans for the future public as of yet. However, the Aussie does accept the fact that there aren’t a lot of opportunities in F1 right now.

In an interview ahead of the Dutch GP, he admitted that he will be treating his last few races of the 2022 season as his last races in F1. Soon, the microphones also picked up a conversation between him and current Red Bull star Sergio Perez. He revealed to the Mexican that he’s planning to take a year off from F1 before returning in 2024.

This is something that is very likely. However, there are fans who are still optimistic about the eight time race winner remaining in the sport. Haas team principal Guenther Steiner  admitted that he was in talks with Ricciardo over a potential seat for next season. Alpine and Williams also have an empty seat available for now because of Fernando Alonso and Nicholas Latifi’s departures, respectively.

On the other hand, rumors that Ricciardo is considering retiring from F1 have not been confirmed in any shape or form.

Also read: “It suited Daniel Ricciardo more”: Lando Norris feels his McLaren car is more suited to 33-year-old teammate