Aussie F1 Daniel Ricciardo’s profession is in limbo after the veteran driver selected to take a reserve driver function at Crimson Bull after the disastrous finish to his time at McLaren.
The F1 world was each shocked however not shocked when McLaren determined to half methods with Ricciardo regardless of one other 12 months left on his contract, choosing up countryman Oscar Piastri in an unpleasant exit from the group.
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Ricciardo by no means spoke poorly of his now-former group, wishing each McLaren and Piastri effectively for his or her futures as he moved again to the place it began at Crimson Bull.
Whereas Ricciardo is a reserve driver and should be content material with a advertising and marketing and simulator function on the group subsequent season, he hasn’t given up hope of returning full-time to the grid in 2024, though his driving profession now depends on outcomes to go his means.
Not that it’ll harm his hip pocket an excessive amount of as Ricciardo is reportedly set to earn $A36 million subsequent season with a reported 21 million euros from his McLaren payout and one other 2 million euros from his Crimson Bull deal based on Sportune.fr.
4 years in the past, Ricciardo left Crimson Bull after being relegated to the second driver behind who was then a promising teenager in Max Verstappen in a season the place he’d needed to retire eight occasions and the group was set to maneuver to Honda engines, regardless of the producer having been out of the game for a while.
The remaining is historical past as Ricciardo went to Renault, then McLaren and Crimson Bull have develop into the powerhouse of the game and Verstappen a two-time champion.
Former Jordan, Crimson Bull and Cosworth govt Mark Gallagher has caught the boot into Ricciardo, saying the Aussie was chasing the cash as he took a deal at Renault — which was reported to be between $A49 million and $A78 million over the 2 seasons.
“He’s simply had this barely turbulent time, actually, since he left Crimson Bull Racing,” Gallagher mentioned to GP Racing Journal.
“All of us keep in mind he took that flight the place he sat on the airplane occupied with, ‘ought to I keep at Crimson Bull or ought to I am going’, and he determined, ‘I’ve acquired to make the leap and go to Renault.’
“Somebody near Daniel, near Crimson Bull, mentioned to me not lengthy afterwards, ‘he has cashed in, he has taken the cash, he’s gone for the large paycheck as a result of he is aware of the World Championship is just not going to return to him. It’s actually not going to return to him at Crimson Bull as a result of Max is the primary. Really, he is aware of it’s not going to return to him at Renault however (then-Renault group boss) Cyril Abiteboul goes to pay him an enormous amount of cash.’
“Why would you not take it? As a result of while you’re moving into your 30s and also you realise that that World Championship prospect is diminishing, take the large cash. Why wouldn’t you? As a result of that’s going to set you up eternally in a day.
“Not solely did he handle to get that large provide after which ship the rostrum consequence that he and Cyril had talked about, he then acquired lured to McLaren with one other large paycheck.
“And naturally, once more, why wouldn’t he take that? Nevertheless it’s been a really totally different expertise at McLaren.”
Gallagher mentioned on the time Ricciardo left Crimson Bull, he was with supervisor Glenn Beavis earlier than the 2 had a falling out which led to an out-of-court settlement to a lawsuit.
Ricciardo is now managed by sports activities administration giants CAA and Gallagher questioned whether or not they had his world championship goals at coronary heart or had been simply searching for essentially the most profitable alternatives.
Whereas prognosticators have lengthy mentioned Ricciardo was silly to have left Crimson Bull, the group was in a state of flux on the time with lots counting on the success of its partnership with Honda.
However Ricciardo, who claimed two podiums and a race win after leaving Crimson Bull, admitted he felt he needed to take of venture on himself.
Talking on the F1’s Past the Grid podcast, Ricciardo didn’t remorse the transfer, even when Verstappen had claimed 30 race wins and two world titles since his exit. Sergio Perez has claimed three race wins and 16 podiums and Alex Albon had one other two podiums since Ricciardo’s departure.
“I don’t have a look at it like that, as a result of nothing is certain. If I stayed there the final 4 years, might I say I might have had extra podiums than I’ve had? What have I had, perhaps three or one thing? Yeah, I’m assured to say I might have had extra podiums than I’ve had,” Ricciardo mentioned.
“However you simply don’t know. Clearly on the time I felt prefer it was proper for me. I felt like I wanted a change and I wanted to type of simply take away myself a bit. If I continued [at Red Bull], would that urge have grown? Would I’ve develop into, let’s say, extra curious or much less glad, or no matter?
“It’s not a certain factor that it might have been nice if I stayed. I don’t look again and say, ‘Man, I shouldn’t have [left]’. However, in fact, I may be trustworthy with myself and say, ‘Yeah, I took a little bit little bit of of venture on myself’.”
