F1’s Daniel Ricciardo Would Consider Sabbatical ‘If It Made Sense’

Daniel Ricciardo during the Belgian Grand Prix driver press conference

IMAGO / Nordphoto

One of the biggest headlines in the Belgian Grand Prix paddock this weekend is Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren’s split—and what is on the horizon for the Australian driver. 

The eight-time grand prix winner is the only McLaren driver to win an F1 race in the last decade, but now, he’s a free agent with his contract ending early with him departing at the end of the 2022 season. 

In a video Wednesday, Ricciardo openly shared, “I think for the future, what lies ahead, I am not sure yet … I am not sure yet. But we’ll see.” There’s a few F1 seats that have yet to be confirmed for 2023, such as Alpine, Williams and Haas, and there have been questions of if IndyCar or NASCAR could be a route for the Australian. 

However, there’s just one place where Ricciardo wants to compete: F1.

“I still love the sport,” Ricciardo said Thursday. “Through all of this, call it adversity, I haven’t lost that confidence in myself. 

“For sure, we’ve had some tough weekends and you can’t help but show emotion sometimes. I still love it and I still want to do it competitively, I want to do it in the right place.

“I never said I just want to be a driver to make up the numbers. If I’m here, I want to be here for a purpose. I don’t know what that means yet for the future. But of course, if it’s the right opportunity, this is where I want to be.”

Given his focus on Formula One, his home for the last decade-plus, would he consider taking a year off and wait for a seat? “If it made sense, yes,” he said.

“It’s the only racing I’m interested in, this stage of my career, F1 is what I love. It’s where I see myself if I’m doing any racing. If the stars don’t align and it doesn’t make perfect sense next year and if it means taking that time off to reset or re-evaluate, if that’s the right thing to do then I’m willing to.”

The Australian revealed Thursday that he and the team had been discussing for months how to improve his performance before it shifted to his exit. He said, “It wasn’t just a random call one day, and ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing.

“We’ve been in dialogue for really the last few months. And it wasn’t like, ‘Don’t top five this race, and you’re done.’ But it was more, ‘What can we do? How can we as a collective try to keep making this work?’”

Although his contract is ending a year early, Ricciardo said he “can hold my head high in terms of applying myself and trying to make it work…And sometimes you just have to accept that okay, I tried, and it didn’t necessarily work out.”