The last two years have been extremely difficult for Daniel Ricciardo. His move to McLaren in 2021, which promised so much on paper turned out to be a nightmare and today, he finds himself without an F1 seat for 2023. Ricciardo had a contract with the British team that would’ve kept him until the end of next season, but they decided to pull the plug early.
Ricciardo’s McLaren stint has been nothing short of a disappointment. He came to the team as a seven-time race winner, and was expected to lead with example. Instead, his now former teammate, Lando Norris comprehensively outperformed him over the course of their time together. Midway into the 2022 season, McLaren announced that he won’t continue next year onwards.
Danny Ric, it’s been a pleasure my friend. Thanks for everything. Thanks for the good times. Thanks for the laughs. You’re a legend @danielricciardo pic.twitter.com/zc19pBC6B8
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) November 21, 2022
For Ricciardo, this was a huge blow, because he failed to land a seat elsewhere. This means that he will spend the 2023 year on the sidelines. However, he will stay in touch with F1 since he signed up as a reserve driver for his former team Red Bull.
Red Bull paying huge amount to Daniel Ricciardo to keep him sidelined
One of the major talking points during Ricciardo’s McLaren sacking was about his pending salary. Back in 2021, he had signed a bumper contract with the Woking-based squad, but being let go a year early meant that he had to be paid some amount.
According to Business Book GP, McLaren paid a sum of $22.2 million to Ricciardo while terminating his contract. However, this isn’t the only amount of money Ricciardo will get paid for spending the year watching F1 on TV. His current employers Red Bull too, will pay him $2.1 million to be their stand by/reserve driver.
Red Bull’s chief advisor Helmut Marko admitted that bringing Ricciardo back did not have much to do with his racing abilities. Instead, his marketability will be of huge commercial asset to the team. The Perth-born driver is very popular among F1 fans, especially in the United States of America, which is a growing market.
Signing Ricciardo up as a reserve driver and having him attend promotional and marketing events in the US and other countries will certainly help the marketing team of Red Bull.
Also read: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reveals how W13 porpoising broke their 2022 engines
