Pink Bull have confirmed Daniel Ricciardo won’t see out the season at their second F1 group, RB.
Simply 14 months after handing Ricciardo his return to F1, Pink Bull have chosen to switch him with Liam Lawson for the ultimate six rounds, starting with the USA Grand Prix in Austin.
The widely-expected transfer follows a weekend of intense hypothesis over Ricciardo’s future throughout the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. The veteran of over 250 grand prix begins and eight-times grand prix winner was visibly emotional after ending Sunday’s race, admitting he knew that “might be it” for his F1 profession.
Neither RB or homeowners Pink Bull gave any official indication that they have been set to drop Ricciardo from the group following the weekend. Nonetheless, the group has now confirmed that Ricciardo has competed in his closing race for RB.
Crew principal Laurent Mekies thanked Ricciardo for his contribution to the group since becoming a member of them in the course of final season. “He has introduced a number of expertise and expertise to the group with a implausible perspective, which has helped everybody to develop and foster a good group spirit,” he mentioned.
“Daniel has been a real gentleman each on and off the observe and by no means with out that smile. He will probably be missed, however will at all times maintain a particular place throughout the Pink Bull household.”
Lawson will substitute Ricciardo for the second time in as a few years. The 22-year-old raced in 5 grands prix for RB in 2023 after Ricciardo broke his left wrist in a observe crash at Zandvoort.
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His spell instead was extensively thought to be successful. Lawson acquitted himself properly on his short-notice debut within the Dutch Grand Prix, then scored the group’s finest results of the season as much as that time with ninth place in Singapore.
Mekies mentioned Lawson “coped properly below troublesome circumstances” final 12 months and expects his integration into the group will show a “pure transition.”
“It’s nice to see younger expertise from throughout the Pink Bull household make the following step,” he added. “We’re trying ahead to getting our heads down and specializing in the remainder of the season collectively.”
For Ricciardo, shedding his race seat at RB is more likely to imply the top of his F1 profession. The 35-year-old made his world championship debut with HRT in 2011 as a Pink Bull junior, earlier than racing for 2 seasons with Toro Rosso, the group now generally known as RB.
Ricciardo was promoted to Pink Bull’s senior group in 2014 alongside Sebastian Vettel. He proved to have the power to battle on the entrance of the sphere, taking his maiden grand prix victory in Canada alongside two additional wins in Hungary and Belgium and 5 different podium appearances.
Ricciardo raced with Pink Bull for 5 seasons till deciding to depart the group on the finish of 2018 as a consequence of his considerations over his standing in comparison with youthful group mate Max Verstappen. He moved to Renault the place he raced for 2 seasons earlier than becoming a member of McLaren in 2021.
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Regardless of taking a memorable, and sure closing, grand prix victory in Monza that 12 months, Ricciardo’s first season with McLaren proved disappointing as he struggled to adapt to the unfamiliar automotive and was recurrently crushed by youthful group mate Lando Norris. When his struggles continued in 2022, McLaren took the exceptional step of breaking his contract with greater than a 12 months remaining on his deal in favour of signing rookie Oscar Piastri.
With out a drive for 2023, Ricciardo was signed by Pink Bull as a reserve driver, testing for the group below the Testing with Earlier Automobiles programme and finishing up demonstration runs for the world champions. Quickly afterwards Pink Bull selected to drop its underperforming new driver Nyck de Vries from its second F1 group, by now known as AlphaTauri, and selected Ricciardo as his substitute.
This season, Ricciardo has been out-performed by group mate Yuki Tsunoda, scoring 12 factors by three high ten finishes and a fourth place end within the Miami dash race in comparison with Tsunoda’s 22 factors from seven high tens. Ricciardo has additionally solely reached Q3 on three events in 2024, in comparison with 9 occasions for Tsunoda, and misplaced the head-to-head qualifying battle 6-12 to his group mate.
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