Daniel Ricciardo will struggle to convince Formula 1 teams to sign him amid concerns over his lack of pace for McLaren this season.
That is the view of Damon Hill, who would not be surprised to see the Australian left without a seat for 2023. Very few spots are still available, and Ricciardo needs one of them to avoid dropping off the grid when he leaves McLaren at the end of the year.
He was due to spend one more season with the Woking-based outfit, but the team decided to cut their losses as he still struggles to get used to their car. Just 19 points secured this season have not been enough to convince them to see out his original three-year deal.
And it seems to be putting off other potential suitors, too. Seats remain up for grabs at Haas, Williams and Alpine – or AlphaTauri, if the latter get the green light to sign Pierre Gasly – but despite all his experience Ricciardo does not seem to be a front-runner for any of them.
Speaking to Sky Sports , Hill said he hopes Ricciardo is able to revive his stalling career, but worries that it might not be possible. "Danny has been such a fantastic character for our sport, effervescent and always smiling and stuff, but something's gone wrong," he said.
"Not only in his pace at McLaren, but also in his strategy for getting himself in a competitive car. Something fell through the cracks there and let's hope he comes up smelling of roses somewhere and we see him back at the front.
"I think there is some logic to [a mooted move to Mercedes to become a reserve driver for 2023]. If you're at least with a top team, even if you're in the wings and waiting for the right opportunity, you will have information that is useful to another team perhaps, potentially.
"But every team manager would be looking at him and everyone, every team, will be looking at him and asking 'where's the pace gone? Is it coming back?' And that's the big question mark. We don't know."
Hill's assessment comes after a far more blunt summary of Ricciardo's predicament by another former world champion, Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian said at Monza: "He's done two awful years at Renault, two even worse years at McLaren, that's four years and how long has he been in F1 total? Almost half his F1 career has been bad and that's when he's had experience."
