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AUSTIN, TEXAS – OCTOBER 23: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and McLaren F1 poses for a photo with McLaren Chief Executive Officer Zak Brown before a showrun in Dale Earnhardt Sr’s 1984 Wrangler Chevrolet Monte Carlo NASCAR before final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas on October 23, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
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AUSTIN, TEXAS – OCTOBER 23: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and McLaren F1 poses for a photo with McLaren Chief Executive Officer Zak Brown before a showrun in Dale Earnhardt Sr’s 1984 Wrangler Chevrolet Monte Carlo NASCAR before final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas on October 23, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
As the news of Daniel Ricciardo leaving Mclaren at the end of the 2022 season is concrete after the poor show, the McLaren Boss tried one last time to keep him with the Papaya family. Ricciardo, who spent two bitter-sweet years at the Woking-based team, was replaced by fellow compatriot Oscar Piastri for the next season. However, Zak Brown would have loved to keep him at McLaren.
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McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who’s a Daniel Ricciardo fan, has tried everything to keep the Australian on the McLaren F1 team. If not for F1, but for other sporting ventures that the team from Britain operates across various other sectors.
Talking about this, Brown conveyed, “I asked him if he wanted to drive for us in the IndyCar or Formula E… I’d love to keep Daniel in the family but he’s still very focused on Formula One, which I get, it’s the pinnacle of motorsports.”
“I’d love to race with him again. It’s probably the toughest thing I’ve had in my time in motorsports, it wasn’t pleasant, not fun”, further asserted the 50-year-old American executive in a report published by Fox Sports.
Daniel Ricciardo’s 2023 hopes died down with the Alpine move
As Alpine signed Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri, the last hope for Ricciardo to stay in the grid next year died down. With almost all the competitive teams having two drivers each set for the next season, there is no vacancy for the man from Land Down Under.
A new chapter will start in 2023 with @AlpineF1Team
I am extremely excited to join the team on a multi-year deal and work our way to the top together. pic.twitter.com/BtkTDOJ0hA
— PIERRE GASLY 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) October 8, 2022
Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren have all their drivers set, with Alpine finishing up with Gasly. As for Alfa Romeo, they’re happy to keep former Mercedes man Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu for further seasons. Moreover, Fernando Alonso is already set to replace the outgoing Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin.
Ricciardo, who served the Red Bull team quite well during his prime, would not like to be reinstated to AlphaTauri, perhaps. However, if there was a chance, that too died down with Nyck de Vries’s signature, which will see the Dutchman be at the Scuderia in 2023.
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The only two options that remain available for him are Williams and Haas, as Nicholas Latifi is set to leave F1 after the 2022 season finishes. Whereas, Haas is yet to finalize Mick Schumacher’s stay on the American team. It’ll be interesting to see if the Monza 2021 winner will be ready to be a teammate to Kevin Magnussen or Alexander Albon in 2023.
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Edited by
Ajinkya Aswale