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Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he will not be on the Formula 1 grid in 2023, describing it as “hitting pause for a little bit” on his F1 career.
Ricciardo is leaving McLaren one year before the end of his contract after mutually agreeing an early exit.
He has struggled since joining the team in 2021, with the notable exception of winning last year’s Italian Grand Prix, and McLaren decided it was better to pursue an alternate option to partner Lando Norris.
It signed the highly-rated 2021 Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri from Alpine early in the summer with the intention of either negotiating Ricciardo’s exit or keeping Piastri as reserve driver in 2023 then promoting him in Ricciardo’s place in 2024.
Since Ricciardo agreed to leave McLaren he has shown little interest in the remaining vacant seats on the 2023 grid.
The most competitive option was Alpine but the Renault works team did not want to re-sign him after his recent exit to join McLaren in the first place.
Pierre Gasly has joined Alpine instead with Nyck de Vries replacing him at AlphaTauri, while Zhou Guanyu has been re-signed by Alfa Romeo and the final vacancies are at Haas and Williams.
Ricciardo was not interested in a back-of-the-grid drive and instead wants to prioritise finding the most competitive 2024 seat possible.
Instead, Haas will be choosing between Nico Hulkenberg and incumbent Mick Schumacher, whereas Williams is rumoured to be leaning towards a promotion for Formula 2 racer Logan Sargeant, assuming he does well enough in the F2 season finale in Abu Dhabi to ensure his superlicence.
Ricciardo said in Japan on Saturday: “I knew they [Gasly and Alpine] were talking for a while, I knew they were interested in Pierre.
“I was prepared for that, and no surprise. We were trying to, let’s say navigate our way around that and figure out what was next.
“But I think the reality is now I won’t be on the grid in 2023. I think it’s now just trying to set up for 2024.
“I think there could be some better opportunities then. So that’s really what all this confirms, and now where the sights are set.”
The Race understands Ricciardo is willing to take a reserve driver role next year because he wants to remain close to goings on in F1, and he has been linked with such a position at Mercedes and his old team Red Bull.
He has no intention of racing elsewhere even on an invitational basis, even though NASCAR team boss Justin Marks has reached out to Ricciardo, a massive NASCAR fan, to drive Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 car that ex-F1 racer Kimi Raikkonen has already driven as a guest entry.
“The plan is still to be involved in F1,” said Ricciardo. “It’s kind of just hitting pause for a little bit, as I see it, as far as my F1 career goes.
“The full intention is for 2024. It could open up opportunities to maybe do some of that stuff, but if I feel it’s going to like deviate away from my target, then I would still say it’s not really where I’m looking.
“As cool as it sounds to compete in something else, the truth is, mentally, I’m not there yet.
“I’m still so engaged in this and I think a bit of time off or out of the seat will probably do me good.
“I would probably use that, as opposed to trying to jump in something else and stay busy in a different category.
“I’d still pretty convincingly say it wouldn’t happen anywhere else.”
Ricciardo matched his best result of the season last weekend with fifth place in the Singapore Grand Prix.
He is only 11th in the championship, four places and 71 points behind team-mate Lando Norris, and has admitted it is “sad” that he has not been able to contribute more to McLaren’s fight against Alpine in the constructors’ championship.
But his result in Singapore did help McLaren leapfrog its rival for fourth and Ricciardo’s form over the final four races will play a key role in the outcome of that fight.
He has qualified 11th for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
