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Daniel Ricciardo is looking ahead to arguably the most important season of his career. The Australian was considered one of the top F1 drivers in 2018 when he decided to switch teams and move to Renault. Since then, the perception around Daniel has tempered over the years.
It all culminated in his stint at McLaren, which was nothing short of disastrous. After joining the team with the objective of being the lead driver, Daniel was relegated to the role of a supporting cast. Since then, he's been dropped by McLaren, admitted to not having the best motivation to race in the sport, got picked up by Red Bull, and got back in contention.
There were moments in the 2023 F1 season where it felt that Daniel Ricciardo was only one good performance away from being promoted to a seat at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen. The first roadblock to that was the wrist injury that he suffered in the Netherlands. The second was arguably not having enough time last season to showcase how good he is.
The 2024 F1 season is crucial in that respect. Sergio Perez is in the last year of his contract. Red Bull is on the lookout for an alternative and one of the names under consideration is Daniel Ricciardo.
Having said that, while many would not have acknowledged this, the 2024 F1 season could be the last one before Daniel Ricciardo retires from the sport. Here's how.
#1 Red Bull's interest in Daniel Ricciardo seems to have tempered
Although this seems very subtle, there does appear to be a temperance of interest in Daniel from Red Bull. The Australian was someone who was often talked about by Christian Horner and Helmut Marko last season when the performance from Perez was not up to the mark. In the winter of last year and the early days of 2024, that seemed to have cooled down.
The name Daniel Ricciardo has not featured prominently this season as a replacement and this might have to do with either the lack of impression left by Daniel or because the team is eyeing someone else. It could be anything but for now, it does appear that interest in Daniel seems to have mellowed since last season.
#2 Daniel Ricciardo did not have the most impressive run in 2023
When we talked about Daniel's run at AlphaTauri last season it's hard to make a definitive judgment. One of the main reasons behind that is the lack of a sufficient number of races to take a call. It's a lack of preparation for Daniel or even a lack of fitness as the driver was just coming off an injury at the time. You take all of that together and you have a situation in which it is hard to give your best.
Having said that, there were still races like the one in Mexico where Daniel scored points, or the race in Hungary, which marked the Australian's return to the sport. In the limited opportunities that Daniel has had there have been moments that impressed but then there have been moments that do not instill much confidence either.
#3 Daniel Ricciardo will not continue in a midfield car
Finally, addressing why Daniel could retire, it simply comes down to the fact that the Australian made it clear when he left the sport that he would come back for an opportunity to fight at the front of the grid. If he didn't have that, he would not be interested in anything else.
If Red Bull does end up not giving Daniel Ricciardo a seat and wants him to prolong his stay at AlphaTauri/Racing Bulls, then we're looking at a scenario that the Australian just didn't want to be in.
This could propel him to call time on his career and pursue other passions. For a driver as marketable as Daniel is and who has the kind of interests away from F1 that he does, the Australian could make up his mind and leave the sport once and for all.
