Daniel Ricciardo’s Method 1 profession, which spanned 15 seasons and included eight grand prix victories, deserved a extra becoming finish that the one which transpired in Singapore.
However his RB staff has now indicated he received’t return to the cockpit for the subsequent race. Making the circumstances all of the extra poignant, F1 is heading to Austin subsequent, a venue the charming and enormously standard driver has developed a deep affinity for.
Ricciardo arrived in Singapore dealing with recent questions over his future. To start with, RB admitted to not more than their intention to evaluate the efficiency of their drivers following this weekend’s race.
However following the grand prix got here an unmistakeable change of tone. RB staff principal Laurent Mekies claimed within the staff’s press launch that they allowed Ricciardo to make an additional pit cease and push to set the quickest lap as a result of “this will have been Daniel’s final race.”
Many had been sceptical about this model of occasions, not least McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. He identified that, whereas Ricciardo stood to achieve nothing from the quickest lap, it disadvantaged race winner Lando Norris of a significant bonus level in his pursuit of Max Verstappen.
Purple Bull staff principal Christian Horner, nevertheless, was grateful for the efforts of their second staff’s driver. In fact neither Purple Bull nor RB admitted any connection between the 2.
However regardless of the true motivation behind Ricciardo’s quickest lap bid, it produced a second wealthy in symbolism. Horner and Brown are each former employers of Ricciardo, and what successes would possibly they’ve loved collectively had his profession taken a unique course?
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Ricciardo lingered within the cockpit of his RB 01 after taking the chequered flag, sitting quietly within the darkness earlier than rising to face the inevitable questions. Together with, as soon as once more, probably the most inevitable of all of them: Did he make a mistake by leaving Purple Bull six years earlier?
“On the time, clearly in my head all the things made sense,” he instructed Nico Rosberg, the newest individual to ask him, on Sky. “However was it the very best determination of my profession? In fact you possibly can argue no, it wasn’t.
“I’m okay with that. It’s a type of ones, additionally, there’s no assure that if I stayed I’d have accomplished superb and received this and that. So that you by no means know. However in fact I’m not going to face right here and say that was the best determination of my life.
“However you reside and also you be taught and clearly it will definitely introduced me again into the household and I don’t wish to look again and be form of unhappy or bitter about something. The whole lot, I suppose, occurs for a purpose.”
Ricciardo made his career-defining determination to depart Purple Bull in mid-2018. They’d introduced him into Method 1 and made him a race winner, however dealing with a rising problem of Max Verstappen within the different automobile, Ricciardo determined a greater probability of success lay at Renault.
Six years on, nobody can convincingly argue Ricciardo was flawed to determine Verstappen as a menace. Now a three-times world champion, Verstappen has thrashed each driver who has occupied that seat since Ricciardo: First Pierre Gasly, then Alexander Albon and now Sergio Perez.
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Whether or not Ricciardo might need accomplished higher in comparison with them is one thing we’ll by no means know. Horner definitely reckoned Ricciardo had misplaced little of his tempo when he returned to check for Purple Bull final yr. However he has solely confirmed frustratingly temporary glimpses of that form of efficiency since then – and that ended his hopes of regaining his race seat at Purple Bull.
Within the intervening interval, Ricciardo missed one other probability to get his arms on a championship-winning automobile. Having appropriately sussed Renault weren’t on a path to the entrance of the sphere (their rebranded staff is presently second from backside within the factors), Ricciardo headed to McLaren in 2021.
This proved a wise selection of staff. Three years later, McLaren are main the constructors’ championship and have an opportunity of taking one among their drivers to the title too.
However Ricciardo, in fact, is lengthy gone. Regardless of his shock victory at Monza in 2021, he was persistently proven up by Lando Norris, and McLaren reduce his three-year contract quick after simply two seasons.
Purple Bull and McLaren had been the 2 nice missed alternatives of Ricciardo’s profession. Had issues performed out otherwise he might have been driving both of their race-winning, championship-leading automobiles on Sunday.
So it was deeply ironic that he ought to discover himself taking part in what would possibly even become a championship-deciding position for his two former staff mates. By denying Norris the quickest lap level, Ricciardo has ensured Verstappen can end second to his rival in all of the remaining races and nonetheless win the title.
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There may be far more racing to be accomplished earlier than we be taught whether or not that was a decisive second. However sadly not, it appears, for Ricciardo.
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2024 Singapore Grand Prix
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