{"id":289057,"date":"2023-04-24T03:50:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T03:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=289057"},"modified":"2023-04-24T05:59:10","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T05:59:10","slug":"ricciardo-clause-that-could-put-an-end-to-f1-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=289057","title":{"rendered":"Ricciardo clause that could put an end to F1 revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Ricciardo<\/a> may have consigned his future in Formula 1<\/a> to the sidelines unless extraordinary circumstances come to pass.<\/p>\n

The eight-time grand prix winner unceremoniously departed McLaren<\/a> at the conclusion of the 2022 season following a lacklustre year in which he was soundly outgunned<\/a> by teammate Lando Norris<\/a> \u2013 leading to Oscar Piastri<\/a> taking his seat.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo opted not to explore options at other teams languishing behind the Woking-based squad, instead opting to take up a so-called 'third driver' role with Red Bull<\/a> that has largely seen him used for promotional purposes.<\/p>\n

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The Perth product may be the chief of optimism, but the grim reality is that his ambition to be driving for a top team will likely keep him sidelined.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

That's apparently not a problem for the 33-year-old, despite there being no obvious path to returning with any team inside the top five.<\/p>\n

"It doesn't scare me," he told Top Gear.<\/p>\n

"It's always been like that. And I knew this was going to be a risk obviously removing myself from a seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"But I think it's clear what I don't want. I don't want (just) any seat next year, as much as I think I want to be racing again. I don't want to just start from zero, and kind of build my career from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's not coming from an arrogant place, but I'm just past that. I don't think that's going to stimulate me or give me that second wind I'm looking for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"So it makes the top seats even scarcer, but that's where I know I will be able to perform at my best and thrive. That's the sort of stuff I'm keeping my eyes on."<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Although Ricciardo has a foot in the door at Red Bull, an opening there looks unlikely to come before 2025.<\/p>\n

Sergio Perez<\/a> signed a two-year contract last year that will take him through to the 2024 season while teammate Max Verstappen is safe until 2028<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ferrari has Charles Leclerc<\/a> signed until 2024 and there are no signs he will go elsewhere or for the Scuderia to offload him.<\/p>\n

Stablemate Carlos Sainz<\/a> signed a contract extension a year ago that will keep him at Ferrari until 2024.<\/p>\n

The exact details of George Russell's<\/a> deal with Mercedes haven't been made public. However, his form at the Silver Arrows would suggest it's unlikely he'll be axed.<\/p>\n

Teammate Lewis Hamilton<\/a> is off-contract at the end of 2023. There is speculation he will re-sign with the team in a bid for a record eighth title.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Outside of the big three, there are very few obvious opportunities for Ricciardo, which by his reckoning probably wouldn't be worth looking at anyway.<\/p>\n

McLaren won't have Ricciardo back for obvious reasons, Alpine has settled on its French pair Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in the short term (2024 and 2025 respectively), and Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll is not going to get rid of his son Lance nor two-time champion Fernando Alonso, who has podiumed in all three races to date with the team.<\/p>\n

Given Ricciardo's prerequisite of driving for a top team, that would seemingly rule out Alfa Romeo, Williams, Haas, and even Red Bull's sister team AlphaTauri too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stranger things have happened, however.<\/p>\n

Nico Rosberg's sudden retirement after winning the 2016 title is as much evidence as you need to know anything is possible.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

With Verstappen's passion for the sport seemingly wavering at times, perhaps a similar situation might be forthcoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In any case, Ricciardo said he has enough to keep him busy away from the sport with his wine and clothing businesses.<\/p>\n

"These are the things I'm genuinely really enjoying and invested in," he said.<\/p>\n

"So they're my fun little hobbies. I say hobbies, they're turning into something else. But they're my fun projects on the side.<\/p>\n

"It's (also) nice just getting time to myself. Honestly, I didn't train for like two months, because I just needed to give myself time off.<\/p>\n

"Now I'm getting back into it, and I want to be getting fit again. I don't know. I'm just learning a lot through all of this."<\/p>\n

Formula 1 continues April 28-30 on the streets of Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Ricciardo may have consigned his future in Formula 1 to the sidelines unless extraordinary circumstances come to pass. The eight-time grand prix winner unceremoniously […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=289057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289063,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289057\/revisions\/289063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/289059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=289057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=289057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=289057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}