Daniel Ricciardo, on a tightrope: “I can’t imagine giving him another chance in Formula 1”

Daniel Ricciardo is one of the most popular drivers in Formula 1. However, adds more and more rumors against his stay in the highest category. This time it was Ralf Schumacher, brother of the seven-time German champion, who spoke, and he was very hard on the Australian. In his opinion, McLaren shouldn’t hesitate to replace him with Oscar Piastri.

The novel began as soon as the summer break began, more than 15 days ago, when Alpine has announced that its Academy driver, Australian Piastri, will replace Fernando Alonso, who will leave for Aston Martin in 2023 to bridge Sebastian Vettel’s gap.

But the surprise was given hours later by the 21-year-old driver, F2 champion in 2021, when he said he would not race for the French, leaving the door open to a contract with another team.

Then came the version of a pre-contract with McLarenwho already had his drivers confirmed (at least on paper) for next season: Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, the very one targeted to be removed from the paddock posters in 2023.

According to the international press, even the English team I would have already communicated the decision to the 33-year-old Australian, who must compensate for the non-fulfillment of the contract. And there is already talk of a juicy sum.

In the meantime, a week before F1 resumed its calendar in Belgium, the youngest of the Schumacher brothers was very hard on Ricciardo: “Personally, I can’t imagine he has another chance in Formula 1.. But I don’t know who should take the Alpine right now. “

The chair game

In an interview with the Sky network in Germany, Schumacher analyzed what can happen on the 2023 grid. “The names are there, with every booth. Even Mick (Schumacher, his nephew) hasn’t signed a contract yet. Therefore, he would be a candidate. A candidate with speed, as we have seen, “he said.

“Even Nico Hulkenberg (Aston Martin reserve driver) is still looking for an opportunity. And then there’s the matter of Daniel Ricciardo,” he said before launching that fierce criticism of the former Red Bull and Renault.

Rightly, one possibility for Ricciardo is to return to Francethat they could have started a dispute with Piastri for having established it.

In this sense Schumacher observed: “It was clear that the Alpine initially had no interest in putting Piastri in the car next year., because it has been seen that young drivers need some time to adapt. They wanted to host him for a year or two somewhere else. “

“There was an option on the part of Alpine to sign him for 2023, but they didn’t make it valid because they did not expect Alonso to leave. But if you have such a gem, it is criminal to let it go.. If you are unable to design contracts correctly, then you cannot blame the young man, “he added in other strong statements.

According to Schumacher, Alpine is now in trouble getting Esteban Ocon’s new partner, a problem they themselves generated by not taking into account the friendship of Mark Webber, Piastri’s representative, with Andreas Seidl, the boss of the McLaren team and with whom he worked in the FIA ​​WEC at Porsche.

But the British don’t just have Piastri committed to a contract. Agreements with young drivers such as Patricio O’Ward, Alex Palou and Colton Herta, of IndyCar, have been confirmed. Although it is difficult to imagine that Piastri, champion of the opening category last year, will spend another season under an F1 car.

Ricciardo is a victory that hasn’t happened for a year

The last time Daniel Ricciardo got on the top step of the podium was in a memorable 2021 Italian Grand Prix because the unthinkable happened: the clash between the candidates Max Verstappen -who drove his Red Bull in a Mercedes- and Lewis Hamilton at 25 laps, who cleared the McLaren 1-2 with the Australian in first place and Norris at his side, flanked by Valtteri Bottas, then in Mercedes, in third place.

Beyond that triumph, during his first season at McLaren, Ricciardo was far from expectationseven though he had only one retirement (in the Brazilian GP), and has accumulated fewer points (115) than his teammate, sixth with 160.

The seasoned driver came from two seasons at Renault (2019 and 2020) and five previous seasons at Red Bull, which had put him to the test at Toro Rosso for two years (of which he accumulated 30 points). His debut, meanwhile, had been in the Spanish HRT Formula 1 Team in 2011, where he didn’t add.

In these 11 years, the Australian participated in 223 races and climbed to 32 podiums, where he was the winner in eight of them.