Ricciardo Opens Up About 'A Bit Of A Harsh Reality Getting Fired' From McLaren

Tuesday, 03 October 2023 at 10:30

Updated at Tuesday, 10 October 2023 at 21:47

In his recent interview, Daniel Ricciardo opened up about his feelings and the aftermath of his departure from the McLaren Formula One team.

After the 2020 season, Daniel Ricciardo signed a contract to join the McLaren F1 team to race alongside Lando Norris. While he managed to achieve McLaren's first victory in nearly nine years, the season 2021 had its ups and downs, and in general, the Australian driver underperformed compared to Norris.

Following the 2021 season, the performances of the Honey Badger got even worse as he finished the season 85 points behind his teammate. Ricciardo has proven his qualities in the past with multiple superb performances, and consequently, this has been a great shock for the whole paddock.

At the end of the season, McLaren decided to terminate Ricciardo's contract. In the interview for Goodwood Road and Racing, Daniel Ricciardo explained how he understood the decision of the team to separate their ways.

“"It's never the way you want to end something, obviously, the results weren't there. I'm a pretty easy-going guy, I got on with the team, and I didn't fall out with anyone in the team, but it's all performance-based and, let's say, the business side of it didn't work out."”

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Ricciardo, who is rumoured to replace Sergio Perez in Red Bull in 2024, has achieved eight victories and 32 podiums in Formula One until this point in his career. Being a renowned driver, his reputation took a hit after he got fired. He elaborated on what was going through his head around that time.

“"At the time, it was a bit of a harsh reality getting fired. but by the end of the season, when I got home for Christmas, I was like, 'Okay, it probably doesn't help my reputation', but at that point, I didn't care anymore. It was a blessing in disguise."”

Since then, Ricciardo has returned to his "old" family - Red Bull Racing F1 team as a third driver behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. However, Honey Badger got his chance to jump back into the F1 seat after the sister team of Red Bull - AlphaTauri separated their ways with Nyck De Vries.

Even though the Australian driver had an unlucky accident two races later and had to sit out a couple of following races away from the F1 car, he will race for AlphaTauri in season 2024 alongside Yuki Tsunoda. Now, Ricciardo is dedicated and focused on rebuilding his reputation, proving his skills and talent, and working his way back up.