Daniel Ricciardo has acknowledged he could be starting the final two races of his Formula 1 career as he prepares for year on the sidelines in 2023.
Ricciardo had his McLaren contract terminated a year early in August and has been unable to secure a competitive seat on the grid for next season.
He’s heavily tipped to join Mercedes as a reserve driver to keep himself in the paddock ahead of an attempted 2024 return.
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The West Australian hopes a year out of the sport will help him reset after two difficult campaigns with McLaren and make him a better driver upon his return.
But the plan carries the significant risk that the driver market will move on without him on the grid, something 2009 champion Jenson Button forecast as his biggest threat.
Ricciardo will also be dealing with a 2024 driver market that will be barely more open than it was this season, notwithstanding the chance of unexpected changes.
But speaking ahead of the penultimate race of the season in Brazil, Ricciardo said he was diving into his sabbatical plan cognisant of the fact it might represent an early retirement.
“I’m certainly aware and I’m also at peace with it if that’s the case,” he said, per Racer. “I’m standing with my decision.
“Look, I don’t want this to be my last two races in F1, but if it is then I accept that could be an outcome.
“Let’s say, because I’m at peace with that, I’m then betting on myself that doing what I’m doing will prepare me for the best version of myself if I do get the opportunity.
“I think it’s one where if I get the opportunity, I don’t want to be Daniel operating at 95 per cent; I want to be fully charged.”
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While he acknowledged the risk that a year out of the sport might remove him from contention for a new contract, Ricciardo said he was weighing it up against the significantly bigger threat of a third uncompetitive season in the sport with a midfield team.
Another difficult year wouldn’t just kill his motivation but would also likely torch his reputation.
“I feel a bit of risk on both sides,” he explained. “But if I was to be back on the grid in 2024, this has the biggest upside in terms of I know I’ll be a better version of myself.
“I think the risk is jumping into a seat next year and it’s shown here in my time at McLaren that nothing’s guaranteed in terms of performance.
“If it was for whatever reason to be a relatively unsuccessful campaign, I think personally I would probably be done with the sport.
“That risk seems way bigger than the risk of sitting out a year.”
The Australian is widely expected to stick around in the paddock via a reserve-driver contract, most likely with Mercedes. Toto Wolff tacitly admitted in Mexico that his team was talking to the Australian, though he added that he though Ricciardo was also negotiating with Red Bull Racing for an unlikely homecoming.
Ricciardo insisted that he hadn’t yet signed any deal for 2023, but he said whatever decision he makes will be based on whatever best balances his need to keep in touch with Formula 1 while also having the space to mentally and physical reset himself away from the sport after a gruelling two seasons.
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“It’s funny, because people might say, ‘Well if you’re interested in 2024, why aren’t you interested in next year’, but I know the way I’ll feel having some time off and watching the races from the TV or somewhere in the paddock. It will give me all that hunger back,” he said.
“I have the hunger still, but I want it to be overflowing, and I know just a bit of time off will do that, because I get it in a summer break and that’s only two or three weeks off.
“I really felt it in COVID when we had three months off or something, and I felt that was probably my best season since 2016 or something.
“So I know what a bit of absence does for me. I appreciate every driver’s different and they feel how they feel, but I know thing the right time off next year will make me very hungry to be back on the grid in 2024.
“That’s why I say I do want to be back in 2024, but there’s no guarantees. I can’t sign a contract today to guarantee me a seat in 2024 — no one will do that, it’s not possible.
“But I’ll just try to do all I can next year to show that I still have the desire and the skill to do it.”
Ricciardo said he was unlikely to target one-off appearances in other sports next year, including the Supercars championship, given it would have little relevance to his pursuit of a grand prix return in 2024, with seat time in F1 machinery his preference.
