At least four teams are reported to be considering Daniel Ricciardo should McLaren be tempted to replace him with Alpine defector Oscar Piastri for the 2023 season.
Ricciardo is contracted until the end of next season, and has been clear about his desire to see it out despite his struggle for consistency. McLaren have publicly supported the Australian, but chief executive Zak Brown revealed earlier this year there are "mechanisms" in place to cut ties early if wanted.
And he may be tempted to do exactly that, amid reports that the team has been in negotiations with Piastri's mentor Mark Webber. Given Piastri's stunning refusal of a 2023 seat with current employers Alpine, it is believed the F2 champion already has a seat lined up elsewhere, most likely with McLaren.
Ricciardo may well find himself facing the axe at McLaren, but even if he was let go he has no need to fear for his Formula 1 future. According to ESPN, four teams have been in touch with him over the last two weeks to figure out his availability.
One of them may well be Alpine themselves, who are now in a tricky situation. In the space of just 48 hours, they lost current driver Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin and were rejected by reserve driver Piastri, who was their number one choice to replace the departing Spaniard.
Ricciardo left the Enstone team to join McLaren for the 2021 season, having spent two years there when they were branded as Renault. He burnt bridges with former chief Cyril Abiteboul in the process, but the team's leadership has changed since then and he has no quarrel with chief executive Laurent Rossi or team principal Otmar Szafnauer.
The latter even admitted the door would be open to a potential return in 2023 should Ricciardo need to find a new home. "I mean, if you look at Fernando, for example, he comes and goes, and I think that happens to other drivers too," he said.
"And I don't think that's an issue at all. I think what we need to focus on is, like I say, the plans that we have for the next eight or nine races.
"We've got to make sure that we complement that plan with the best driver that we can, and there are some options out there for us. And we put the best driver in next to Esteban [Ocon], so that we can move forward towards what we've been planning."
