Daniel Ricciardo says he’s braced for a year on the sidelines next season after losing his drive at McLaren.
Ricciardo has had his three-year deal with the British team cut short by 12 months after two years of underperformance and will be replaced by compatriot Oscar Piastri next season.
But the eight-time race winner has struggled to find another seat on the grid for 2023.
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The most competitive alternative is Alpine, which leads McLaren in fourth in the constructors standings, but his sudden 2020 decision to defect from the French team is still regarded with some level of bitterness in the echelons of upper management and appears to have kept the door closed to a reunion.
Haas and Williams both have vacancies, but at seventh and 10th in the championship, neither is appealing to the veteran of more than 11 seasons.
Speaking after retiring from the points at the Italian Grand Prix one year on from his drought-breaking victory — still McLaren’s most recent win — the Australian said he was prepared for a seemingly inevitable year on the sidelines.
“I’ve certainly accepted, if I’m not to be on the grid next year, I’m okay with that,” he said. “I’ve accepted that I’m not going to do everything, or my [management] team’s not going to do everything, just to put me on the grid if it’s not right or it doesn’t make sense.”
Ricciardo said his priority was to find a racing seat that could get his career back on track after a derailing two McLaren campaigns that have risked tarnishing his reputation as one of the grid’s most ferocious racers, having neutered his trademark driving style.
“Obviously this year’s been challenging, and if I am on the grid, I want to know that it’s a place that I can enjoy it and feel like I can thrive, an environment I feel I can thrive in.
“I don’t want to just jump into a car for the sake of it.”
Ricciardo had earmarked the impending two-weekend break before the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix as an opportunity to decide what he’s going to do in 2023, having put off consideration during the demanding triple-header that followed his McLaren sacking.
He enters this crucial decision-making window off the back of a four-round run outside the points — the longest of his McLaren career and his worst streak since 2012 — though he was on track to finish eighth in Monza before his car suddenly switched itself off six laps from home.
“Days like this certainly are pretty frustrating,” he said on Sunday night. “But give it 24, 48 hours and I’ll get over it and try to understand what’s best for next year.
“Not in an overconfident or cocky way, but if it’s not meant to be, then I’m totally okay with that. I’m not going to be too proud.
“We haven’t certainly given up on [getting a seat], but that’s kind of where my head’s at, at the moment.”
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Ricciardo is on track for one of his worst season-long result since his full-time debut in 2012.
Discounting his half-year at HRT in 2011, Ricciardo has finished outside the top 10 of the drivers standings just twice: in 2012 (18th, 10 points) and 2013 (14th, 20 points).
He’s currently 14th in the standings with only 19 points. Six rounds remaining in the record-equalling 22-race season.
McLaren has slipped backwards in the constructors standings this season thanks in part to a deeply inconsistent MCL36, which has delivered the team four double non-scoring finishes. It trails Alpine by 18 points in the constructors standings.
