After months of speculation, Daniel Ricciardo officially lost his RB seat following the Singapore GP last weekend. While some remain hopeful for a miraculous return to F1, many, including F1 expert Tim Hauraney, believe this marks the end of the road for the Perth-born driver.
On the Nailing the Apex podcast, Hauraney said, “I think for Ricciardo, it’s sad to say but, I think that’s it for him in Formula 1. He won’t be going up to the big team Red Bull Racing like he wanted to and this is pretty much it.”
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Ricciardo knew that his time in F1 was up before he suited up for the Singapore GP. He put up a post on Instagram, thanking his fans for the support over the years, but did not make his retirement official by any means.
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However, he will have to step away, at-least for the time being. The only available spot for him on the grid is at Sauber, a team not interested in securing his services.
But Ricciardo can always consider other racing disciplines if F1 doesn’t turn out to be an option. For instance, he can bank on his popularity in America to take part in IndyCar or even better – NASCAR. Ricciardo is a huge fan of the latter, and considers Dale Earnhardt (legendary NASCAR driver) to be one of his sporting idols.
Former F1 driver turned IndyCar star Marcus Ericsson also asked Ricciardo to come over to the US recently. While it may not quite give him the same satisfaction F1 did, it would surely be a good way for him to reignite his passion for racing.
