£105k-a-week driver left convinced his Formula 1 career was ending in 2022

Follow us on Google Discover

Reaching Formula 1 is the biggest achievement of many driver’s careers, but staying in the sport is arguably an even tougher task.

This season has put that into full focus with more than half of the grid scrambling around to find a race seat before their contracts expire.

The majority of drivers have been successful with only a handful of seats left to fill for 2025 and so far, just a single rookie confirmed for next year.

Oliver Bearman will be replacing Kevin Magnussen at Haas although Mercedes are getting closer to confirming Kimi Antonelli as George Russell’s teammate for next year.

However, while Magnussen might be considering racing outside of F1 going forward, one of his rivals on the grid didn’t even expect to be driving in the series this season.

Daniel Ricciardo has had a mixed time in Formula 1 over the past few years and is once again facing being dropped from the grid entirely at the end of the year.

He has 10 race weekends to prove to RB that he deserves a new contract for 2025 with Liam Lawson lurking in the garage at every track on the calendar.

Ricciardo was speaking in an interview with Motorsport.com about how he thought his F1 career was already finished.

The £105,000-a-week driver had a mixed time once he left Red Bull in 2018.

He drove well during his time at Renault but Ricciardo thought his difficult two years with McLaren spelled the end of his time in the paddock.

READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Daniel Ricciardo’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Daniel Ricciardo thought his Formula 1 career was finished in 2022

Talking about his attitude towards his future in the sport, Ricciardo said: “It’s not like I have an ‘I don’t care’ approach, but my perspective is that all this now is a bonus because I really thought at the end of 2022 maybe I would never race Formula 1 again,” he explains.

“So, to have this second chance, if there is going to be some pressure then okay, let’s take it on. Nothing can really hurt me anymore.

“I can’t control anything that’s going to happen. I can control what happens on track. I don’t even take it race by race. I take it session by session.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Visa Cash App RB F1 Team from team principal to Red Bull relationship

Oscar Piastri saw immediate ‘problem’ with replacing Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren

After a thoroughly impressive 2020 season with Renault, Ricciardo decided to make the switch to McLaren to partner Lando Norris.

It was a bold call given how successful he’d been with the French manufacturer but with hindsight and looking at the current situation of Alpine, he made the right choice.

However, Ricciardo failed to properly adapt during his two years with McLaren and it’s understandable why he thought his time in F1 was over when he was replaced by Oscar Piastri.

Piastri saw an immediate problem with replacing Ricciardo due to his immense popularity but he’s now one of the most well-loved drivers on the grid himself.

In fact, Piastri has leant into comparisons with Kimi Raikkonen due to his ice-cold persona, even managing to keep calm after winning his maiden Grand Prix in Hungary.

The Australian was given a lifeline by Red Bull last year when he replaced the struggling Nyck de Vries and his relationship with team boss Christian Horner certainly helped in that scenario.

Ricciardo potentially only has one race left to prove he should still be on the grid next year due to a clause in Lawson’s contract that demands he has a race seat sorted by September otherwise he can freely move to another team.

However, when it comes to Red Bull, nothing is ever that straightforward.