Despite Greedy $10,000,000 Rejection, Daniel Ricciardo Given Some Hope In Line With Sergio Perez’s Miracle for F1 Return

Daniel Ricciardo is out of sight but not out of the minds of the debate circles in Formula 1. Ricciardo was back on track for the first time in 2023 in Australia, even if it was for PR purposes. Although, after deciding to stay away from the sport in the current campaign, Ricciardo’s desire to race in 2024 is still burning bright. However, experts believe it won’t be as simple while discussing the possible destination for the Australian.

Ricciardo chose to stay away from racing in 2023. However, his decision, which has delayed his return to action until at least 2024, is different from what Alex Albon went through. In fact, it is also different from what his current teammate Sergio Perez went through during an uncertain period in his career. However, both drivers are still part of the premier class. This is exactly what experts pointed out speaking on ESPN’s Unlapped podcast while discussing his options for 2024.

“There aren’t many options at the top teams,” said the host. He also exhausted all the other options available on the grid for Ricciardo for 2024.

However, giving a ray of hope, the host confessed, “It’s never as simple as that. If you look at Checo and before he went to Red Bull, he was at Force India. Won a race in Sakhir, in an unfancy car, and opened doors for himself to get that Red Bull drive when they looked to get rid of Alex Albon. So you know these things do happen, they do turn around. I think right now it’s quite hard to speculate on where he’ll be.”

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Ricciardo now walks an uncertain path toward a driving seat for 2024. A path that he wouldn’t have had to walk if he had accepted Haas’ offer instead of his $10 million asking price.

Daniel Ricciardo could’ve been a Haas driver but the money came in the way

After the McLaren ousting, Ricciardo was flooded by offers for a seat from various teams on the grid. However, the Australian did not want to jump on the first opportunity he got. Despite that, Ricciardo was seriously considering the option to join Haas. Although those negotiations never came to fruition because of Ricciardo’s $10 million salary ask.

Haas boss Guenther Steiner was ready to offer $7 million/year. Ricciardo preferred to sit out instead. However, there are no hard feelings and the Rockstar of F1 is ready to bring the Australian to Haas should he choose to accept.

“At some point, I may talk to him (Daniel Ricciardo), but I cannot promise anything because if our two men do a good job, then it stays that way. Everybody is [going to] want to speak with Daniel. The year off, maybe he knows again what he wants to do and he will be interesting for everybody in F1,” said Steiner.

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No one can predict Ricciardo’s future as of now. However, as things stand, there are limited options available for the Australian. It will be interesting to see if things change over the course of the current campaign.