Daniel Ricciardo recently declared he’s given up on an F1 seat for 2023 and is focused on returning to the grid in 2024. But he’s been handed a potential lifeline by Haas, with team boss Guenther Steiner claiming the Australian eight-time race winner would be ‘a big hit’ for the American outfit.
“If he’s interested in us, he’s not shy to call me up. I am not going to chase him down,” the team principal told The Associated Press, hinting that Ricciardo had not even reached out over a potential move to the team.
“I want him to decide what he wants to do for himself, first, before being talked into something.
“I think he’s a good driver and I don’t know how he got in the situation he’s in now, but I think he needs to come clean with himself and decide what he’s going to do.”
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Haas currently has Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen on their books, though Schumacher’s habit of crashing – three this season – has put his future under a cloud.
Haas currently sit third-last in the constructors championship, with Nico Hulkenberg – who has proven a solid fill-in for multiple teams during Covid-19 – the likely replacement should Schumacher be dumped for 2023.
But Steiner believes Ricciardo could be a success for the team – although he is perplexed by the Australian’s struggles at McLaren.
“For us he would be a big hit,” Steiner added. “He was a race winner and now he is without a job. He was a race winner just last year. I rate him as a driver.
“I have no idea why he doesn’t perform right now. That is for him to figure out.”
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Ricciardo’s only real options for 2023 after his McLaren exit were Haas or Williams, two teams who regularly make up the rear of the grid.
But Ricciardo has made it clear since his McLaren axing that he does not want to drive for a backmarker.
The 33-year-old told the media in Suzuka: “The reality is now that I won’t be on the grid in 2023, it’s now just [a case of] trying to set up for 2024.
“I think there could be better opportunities then and that’s really what all this confirms now, where the sides are set.”
Unless he has a change of heart – and soon – the Australian won’t be on the grid next year.
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