Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 career came to an unceremonious end with a simple tweet. It was a sad conclusion for the Australian driver who deserved better, but whose talent was overshadowed by the lure of money and the vain hope of growing beyond Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
He aspired to be a champion, but left as an unknown. He dreamed of being a villain, but ended up as a lackey. Daniel Ricciardo’s departure on the evening of the Singapore Grand Prix was not befitting of a driver of his caliber. His restrained sobs in front of the cameras and the overwhelming emotion that prevented him from leaving his cockpit after what was likely his last Grand Prix, spoke volumes about the pain the usually cheerful Australian must have felt on Sunday, seeing his Red Bull family abandon him.
It’s noteworthy that the Austrian team, without any sentiment, left him high and dry. They even let him go without a precursor statement, dismissing him with a simple, emotionless tweet from Racing Bull, without a word from the big sister, after unsportingly asking him to snatch the fastest lap point from Lando Norris at Marina Bay. They discarded him like an old sock, showing no respect for someone who had contributed to the team’s success at least seven times (the number of his victories with them).
A Promising Start
Indeed, it was this same team that gave him a leg up last year when McLaren ousted him a year earlier than his contract stipulated, even though he had helped the Woking team return to winning ways (Monza 2021). It was the same Dr. Marko, who is now being criticized for his lack of sentiment, who had spotted him at Estoril in 2007 and signed him to his team, along with a certain Jean-Eric Vergne. It was the same Marko who gave him his debut in the summer of 2011 with the modest Hispania team, where he honed the aggressive driving style that we admired so much when he was competing almost on equal terms with his then Red Bull teammate, Max Verstappen, who has since become a champion.
A Strange Atmosphere Surrounding Daniel Ricciardo’s Possible Last F1 Race in Singapore…
Remembering Daniel Ricciardo’s Legendary Career
Let’s forget about Red Bull for a moment and remember the legendary braking that Daniel Ricciardo repeatedly inflicted on his Dutch teammate in 2016 at Sepang, Malaysia. Or the pole position he stole from the Dutchman in Mexico in 2018, forever depriving him of the record for the youngest poleman in history. Recall how, in his debut with Red Bull after two formative years at Toro Rosso, the Australian outperformed Sebastian Vettel, the four-time reigning champion, in 2014. Not just once, but three times. If Ricciardo leaves, it’s the image of the “Honey Badger” that we should remember, a nickname that the Perth native adopted as a talisman, a totem that protected him from the image of a smiling fool that some quickly wanted to stick to “Dan the Banana”.
A Stint at Renault That Took Him Away from the Top
Daniel Ricciardo was the maestro of ultra-late braking, a “dive bomb” technique that Piastri, his successor at McLaren, has brought back into vogue in recent weeks. A highly talented driver, he was much stronger than the rotten financier he thought he had become by extracting 50 million dollars from Renault for two years. His bank account may have benefited, but since leaving Red Bull for the French team, his genius and even his spirit seemed to have departed.
Return to Toro Rosso and Struggles
Reinstated last summer by Red Bull into the Toro Rosso of his beginnings, now renamed Racing Bulls, Ricciardo could do nothing. Even against his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who is greatly overrated in the paddock. While the hot-tempered Japanese driver scored 22 points this year, the Australian only managed 12. A misery for someone who has won eight races, including an incredible Monaco where he had to try twice, signing the best lap in 2018. Red Bull had forgotten his tires during his first pole in 2016, condemning him to second place that day.
The Cruel but Beautiful World of F1
At Red Bull, they could no longer wait, risking the loss of Liam Lawson whose contract was expiring. The way the Austrians are parting with their Australian will be regretted, but not the reason. Especially if the less smiley and endearing New Zealander starts to perform and a spot opens up next to his majesty Max, then our Frenchman from the Filière, Isack Hadjar, battling for the F2 title, would also have his chance… F1 is cruel but it can also be beautiful. This is the message a sad Ricciardo was trying to convey on Sunday as a farewell he didn’t officially get to say: “If Max wins the title by one point, I’ll have a nice Christmas present.”
