Oscar Piastri’s Mother Drops Heartfelt Note for Daniel Ricciardo on RB Exit

In a Formula 1 career spanning 13 years with various teams, Daniel Ricciardo has built a massive fanbase. Among his biggest supporters is Oscar Piastri’s mother, Nicole, who recently shared a heartwarming message for the honey badger on X (formerly Twitter).

This came after what is believed to be Ricciardo’s final F1 race in Singapore. RB officially announced that he would be replaced by reserve driver Liam Lawson for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Nicole wrote, “Congratulations on a stellar F1 career @danielricciardo. I can’t wait to see what you do next… And now you can breathe again Grace”.

Nicole wasn’t the only one with a message for Ricciardo. Nearly the entire F1 community — drivers, team principals, and journalists — sent him their best wishes. Even athletes from other sports, like Lindsey Vonn and Josh Allen, the latter being one of his closest friends, shared their support.

While a comeback can’t be ruled out, especially in a sport as unpredictable as F1, it seems Ricciardo may have reached the end of his F1 career. The only available seat for 2025 is at Sauber, and the Hinwil-based team already has other drivers in mind.

Nicole was upset to know Oscar was replacing Ricciardo

Oscar Piastri made his F1 debut in 2023 with McLaren, replacing Ricciardo. While Nicole was thrilled to see her son secure a seat at the pinnacle of motorsport, she was upset that it came at the expense of letting Ricciardo go.

“It dawned on me what that meant. And I was like oh no… Oh, no wait. Oh my God Daniel. I love Daniel,” she recalled her feelings in a conversation on ‘The Red Flags’ podcast. In fact, Oscar himself realized that Ricciardo was adored by everyone, and matching up to that wouldn’t be easy.

However, Nicole’s disappointment didn’t last long. Just months after sitting on the sidelines, Ricciardo returned to the grid in 2023 with the AlphaTauri team (now RB), replacing the underperforming rookie Nyck De Vries.

This time, however, a return to the grid does not seem on the cards.