- Ricciardo has picked up just three top-10 finishes and sits 12th in the season points standings.
- Ricciardo signed a three-year deal with McLaren in 2021, but doubts about that contract surfaced in back in May.
- Ricciardo recently took to social media to outline that he will be racing with McLaren in 2023.
It has not been a good year for the Daniel Ricciardo-McLaren Formula 1 racing partnership.
Ricciardo, 33, has picked up just three top-10 finishes and sits 12th in the season points standings, with only 17 points, while younger teammate Lando Norris, 22, is currently seventh place with 64 points.
That comes off the back of Ricciardo’s 2021 season in which his superb Italian Grand Prix win was a rare high point in a campaign that was subdued by his lofty standards.
Ricciardo signed a three-year deal with McLaren in 2021, but doubts about that contract surfaced in back in May when CEO Zak Brown gave an interview in which he hinted that there were “mechanisms” that could lead to an early split.
Ricciardo has regularly rebuffed such an idea, and last week took to social media to outline that he will be racing with McLaren in 2023.
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That came in a week in which there was a flurry of McLaren-related developments, with current IndyCar driver Colton Herta beginning his Formula 1 test program, and reigning IndyCar champ Alex Palou also signed to a deal with McLaren Racing. There was also a rumor linking current Alpine reserve Oscar Piastri, who also has a reserve arrangement with McLaren, as a possibility to assume Ricciardo’s seat.
Expanding on his own situation, Ricciardo spoke ahead of this weekend’s F1 French Grand Prix, saying, “There’s a lot of noise, rumors, people kind of questioning, coming up with their own answers. It was just kind of building I guess. I was like ‘I’m just going to let everyone know’. I also think for people that follow me and my supporters, if you want – ‘what’s Daniel going to do, is this going to be it?’.
“I was like ‘No, it’s time to let everyone know from the horse’s mouth.'”
Despite a disappointing season, it appears Daniel Ricciardo is safe at McLaren for 2023.
Dan Istitene – Formula 1Getty Images
Ricciardo conceded there has been some soul-searching as he strives to get on top of McLaren’s MCL36 but dismissed any suggestions that he has ever felt like throwing in the towel.
“After a Q1 exit, the frustration is like ‘this again?’ or ‘how am I out in Q1?’,” Ricciardo said. “I’ve admitted sometimes in a way I hate this sport because you deal with these highs and lows so often. But the days that I also can find myself hating it, I also love it because the feeling that I get and what it does and how it ignites me, I guess that feeling in my gut, I’m like ‘Ah, I actually love this’.
“So of course, I would just love to be on the top all the time or whatever, but the feeling I get is still real, even through those lows. That belief and everything I get, as soon as that emotion and wave of frustration blows over, give it 10 minutes or half an hour or an hour whatever it is. Once I reset, it’s like ‘yeah I still want this’. I still believe I can do it. The day I retire is the day that I lose that feeling, the day I lose that belief and will to keep doing it. And I truly feel like I’m still pretty far from that.”
Ricciardo pointed to last year’s Monza victory as encouragement amid another tricky season.
“From our point of view, there was never any speculation.”
“If I could win a race in a year like that, anything’s possible,” he said. “So certainly that motivates me, that inspires me. But also I get why people forget, I get how you’re only as good as your last race, all this and that. It’s what it is, I get it. But no one knows me better than me.”
McLaren’s Formula 1 team principal Andreas Seidl confirmed on Friday in France that “from our point of view, there was never any speculation.”
“It has been clear from our side that we have a contract in place and our sole focus together with Daniel is to find these last percentages in terms of performance and that’s what we are focusing on. It is in line with what we’ve said for several months—no surprises.”
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