{"id":378010,"date":"2024-03-20T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378010"},"modified":"2024-03-21T01:05:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T01:05:00","slug":"ricciardos-telling-admission-as-contract-talks-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378010","title":{"rendered":"Ricciardo's telling admission as contract talks loom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Ricciardo<\/a> admits he's content with the idea that this year could be his last in Formula 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With his contract up for renewal, this season is arguably the most important in his storied career.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Wide World of Sports ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Ricciardo said he's conscious of the opportunity he has after being dumped by McLaren<\/a> at the end of 2022 for fellow Australian Oscar Piastri<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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"I'm definitely not looking beyond this year," said Ricciardo of his contract situation.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

"The way the last year or two have been for me\u2026 There's so much where I just take it race week after race week and that's professionally how I'm going about it now and living.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm not even really thinking about, 'Oh, if I get this result, then maybe it means that'. I'm just trying to approach every weekend kind of like I did 10 years ago; just with a little bit of a point to prove to myself more than anything, a little bit of a chip on my shoulder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"But yeah, just kind of get after it \u2014 and if it is my last year, then fricking make sure I make it a good one kind of thing\u2026 not in a reckless way, but I've got not that much to lose in terms of I nearly lost a seat 18 months ago permanently."<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

There are a handful of outcomes for the Perth product, whose future in the Red Bull family is understandably no clearer two races into the season.<\/p>\n

The best outcome for Ricciardo is that he is promoted to the second Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n

That, it would seem, relies on Sergio Perez having a lacklustre run. The Mexican has been runner-up to his Dutch teammate in the two races to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perez finishing second in the championship is the baseline expectation for Red Bull, but a decision on his and Ricciardo's future is expected to be made by the mid-season break in August.<\/p>\n

\"Liam<\/p>\n

It's entirely possible that Red Bull re-signs the 34-year-old to stay at the sister RB team and the status quo remains across the two teams.<\/p>\n

Where RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda lands is anyone's guess, although his fiery attitude might not endear him to the Red Bull seat if a vacancy presents itself.<\/p>\n

Putting pressure on the outside is Liam Lawson, who proved more than capable in Ricciardo's absence last year with a season-best ninth from five races.<\/p>\n

Then there's the grim consideration that he doesn't return at all.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

The catalyst for Ricciardo's return midway through last year came when he tested with Red Bull and set a time that would have put him on the front row for the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

That same day, Nyck De Vries was axed and Ricciardo was given that seat.<\/p>\n

His return was short-lived, however. After just two races, he suffered a broken hand in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The eight-time grand prix winner sat out five races before returning at the United States Grand Prix. One race later, he finished a season-best seventh in Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ricciardo<\/p>\n

Ricciardo said he knows he's capable.<\/p>\n

"I have an opportunity now to be back on the grid and I'm doing things a little bit differently and ultimately just going all-in," said Ricciardo.<\/p>\n

"Fortunately, I proved it to myself, whether it was the Red Bull test in July or Mexico, the race last year, that I can still do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"So it's really just trying to obviously do this more weekends than not and I think that will serve me well."<\/p>\n

It's been a while since Ricciardo's famed "Honey Badger" has had a mention.<\/p>\n

"It's brewing, it's been brewing," he said with a grin.<\/p>\n

"So I am very excited and I think this weekend's a nice place to get it going."<\/p>\n

His season continues on March 22-24 with the Australian Grand Prix where he'll line up for RB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Ricciardo admits he's content with the idea that this year could be his last in Formula 1. With his contract up for renewal, this […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":378014,"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\/378010"}],"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=378010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378022,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378010\/revisions\/378022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/378014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}