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In F1, alliances between teams and drivers are more or less done after a certain level of due diligence by both parties. This is arguably why alliances like Ayrton Senna-McLaren and Michael Schumacher-Ferrari tend to work and last for multiple years. Whenever teams approach a driver, there are clear ideas of what the team can expect from that driver and what the driver will deliver in the long run to the team.
Having said that, there have been multiple instances in the history of the sport where a team was unable to factor the intangibles into the equation and let the driver leave earlier than what it would have wanted, to cut the losses.
In this feature, we are going to take a look at some of the instances in the 21st century where high-profile driver signings were released by their teams before the contracts had expired.
#1 Daniel Ricciardo (2022 F1 season, McLaren)
The latest example of this has to be the ongoing saga between Alpine, Oscar Piastri, and supposedly McLaren. By the looks of it, Oscar Piastri will be racing for McLaren in the 2023 F1 season and will be replacing Daniel Ricciardo. According to reports, Ricciardo has been informed by McLaren that its partnership with the driver won't continue beyond this season.
The Australian had joined the team in the 2021 F1 season and was supposed to be the star signing for the team. While McLaren secured P3 in the 2020 Championship, Daniel Ricciardo in his Renault was able to outscore both the McLaren drivers. Ricciardo had joined the team with the reputation of belonging to the elite group of drivers on the grid. At the Woking-based squad, however, it did not click from Day One.
A combination of strange car characteristics in addition to the coming of age of Lando Norris meant that Daniel Ricciardo, the driver that was paid the big bucks by the team, had to take on a supporting role within the team. While the win at Monza in the 2021 F1 season was a highlight, there wasn't much else to speak of for the Australian.
The Australian had another year on his contract for the 2023 F1 season but McLaren, plagued by the considerable lack of results from the Australian, ended up signing Oscar Piastri as Ricciardo's replacement even before the contract ran out.
#2 Kimi Raikkonen (2009 F1 season, Ferrari)
Kimi Raikkonen was picked by Ferrari in 2007 as the great Michael Schumacher's replacement within the team. In his very first season, Raikkonen fulfilled his promise as well by securing a title triumph by beating Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
The problems started surfacing in the 2008 F1 season when Raikkonen suffered from a slump in form. As a result, a driver whom Ferrari was paying an exorbitant salary turned into nothing more than a supporting role for Felipe Massa's failed title charge in 2008. There were complaints that the "Iceman" was far too casual and lacked the motivation to compete at the front.
After a disappointing 2009 F1 season where Ferrari messed up big time in terms of understanding the regulations, the Italian squad made wholesale changes within the team as well. One big change was hiring Fernando Alonso for the 2010 season and paying off Kimi Raikkonen to not race for the team beyond the 2009 season.
A partnership that started with a bang ended in a rather abrupt manner as the Finnish driver opted to sit out of the sport for two more years after the infamous exit from the team.
#3 Nigel Mansell (1995 F1 season, McLaren)
McLaren's Ron Dennis was under pressure from title sponsor Marlboro that season to sign a world champion after the departure of Ayrton Senna from the team (and his untimely death). With the only active world champions being Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, and Nigel Mansell, Ron Dennis chased the signature of the latter, the star British 1992 F1 champion.
Mansell's stock was quite high after his triumph in CART Championship (IndyCar) in 1993 and the adaptable role he played at the 1994 championship for Williams as a replacement for Senna. He was going to be the lead driver at McLaren, a team that was still reeling from the impact of losing Senna and Honda as its engine partner.
Before the season began, it did appear that Dennis had pulled off a coup. A star driver in Mansell and a protege in Mika Hakkinen was just the partnership that could propel the team forward. The Mansell that McLaren got, however, was an old, unmotivated, and perhaps slightly out-of-shape driver who had already achieved all he needed to in his career. The partnership was a disaster as Mansell could not even race in the first few events because he could not fit in the car.
After a handful of races, both Dennis and Mansell saw the writing on the wall and called an end to a rather painful partnership for both.
