Red Bull has finally confirmed the exit from Formula 1 of Daniel Ricciardo.
While it has been widely accepted that Ricciardo competed in his final race for RB in Singapore last weekend, there had been no formal announcement from the squad or parent Red Bull operation about the situation.
But on Thursday afternoon, Red Bull’s social media channels paid tribute to Ricciardo’s contribution over the years, which included seven out of eight career wins.
In a post titled ‘Thank you Daniel’ on RB’s official feed, team boss Laurent Mekies said: “He has brought a lot of experience and talent to the team with a fantastic attitude, which has helped everyone to develop and foster a tight team spirit.”
While Ricciardo was not definitive about his own future after Singapore, it was clear from his body language and messaging that he was anticipating it to be his final race in F1.
Speaking after the race, and getting emotional at times, the Australian said he was at peace with himself over the situation.
"I tried to obviously enjoy it [the Singapore Grand Prix weekend], a little bit like the end of '22 with McLaren," reflected Ricciardo.
"Obviously I was aware maybe that was my last race, so I tried to enjoy that.
"I think I'm in a much happier place now in the sport than I was then. So if this is it, let's say I have a little bit more peace and I'm proud of the career."
Ricciardo also posted on Instagram some words of appreciation to those who had had a role in his F1 career.
"I’ve loved this sport my whole life. It’s wild and wonderful and been a journey," he said. "To the teams and individuals that have played their part, thank you.
"To the fans who love the sport sometimes more than me haha thank you. It’ll always have its highs and lows but it’s been fun and truth be told I wouldn’t change it. Until the next adventure."
Consistency not speed the issue
Ricciardo’s return to F1 last year with RB was viewed as an opportunity for him to show that he still had the qualities that could earn him a spot in the main Red Bull operation.
But his prospects of that were not helped by a crash at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix that broke his wrist and put him on the sidelines for several weeks.
While back to full fitness this season, and despite a potential opportunity opening up at Red Bull because of Sergio Perez’s struggles, Ricciardo could not deliver the consistency that his bosses wanted.
There were highs, like a fourth place in the Miami sprint, and a run to eighth place in Canada, but there were too many occasions when he struggled for better results.
RB team boss Laurent Mekies has made it clear, however, that Ricciardo’s natural speed was never the problem, it was just that he and the team could never consistently deliver it.
Speaking exclusively to Autosport, Mekies said: “You and a few other people have asked us so many times, can Daniel still make it? I think the answer on the track was yes, he can still make it.
“Look at Miami, look at Canada, look at these races where he's shown that the pure speed was there then. Did we manage to do that in a constant enough manner? No, we didn't.
“It's never the driver or the team. It's both together, you know. So did we find the sweet spot often enough? Probably not.
“Did he show that he still had the ultimate speed when the sweet spot was there? Yeah, he definitely did.”
Mekies said that had Ricciardo been racing for a team that had been able to find the sweet spot more often, then the situation may have been different.
“It is very possible that tomorrow you could find a car that leaves you in that sweet spot for more races than not,” he added.
“It would have been different if we had never seen the ultimate speed, but we saw it several times.
“It's something we have never hid our share of responsibility for, in trying to give him the car needed to express himself, and trying to find the sweet spot more often than not.”
Despite its post on Ricciardo, RB has not yet formally announced that Liam Lawson will be stepping up to become Yuki Tsunoda’s team-mate for the rest of the campaign.
