Standing 14th in the drivers championship with 12 points to his name, Daniel Ricciardo’s career in Formula 1 hasn’t taken the course anyone expected when he first stepped onto the grid. In Singapore this weekend, the rumour mill has been in overdrive as whispers of Ricciardo’s future in Formula 1 is debated. The question being: is this Ricciardo’s last race in Formula 1?

After a series of controversial moves across the grid, beginning with the initial move from Red Bull to Renault only to end up where he started after years of disappointing results, Ricciardo finds himself at the back of the grid once more. Plenty of people have critcised the decisions Ricciardo has made throughout his career. Leaving Red Bull at a time when the team was seemingly on the up to one which was comfortably in the midfield was questioned intensely at the time. Just as the following move from Renault, a team who’d been prepared to shape their future around Ricciardo, to McLaren, one who already had its eyes set on its newest young talent, was.

All of this was in the sake of pursuing that world championship all drivers on the grid covet. But particularly Ricciardo, who’d been named a future champion from the moment he stepped into Red Bull and beat their golden boy, Sebastian Vettel, in his very first season with the team.

No one can doubt Ricciardo’s talent. At his best, he was one of the finest drivers on the grid. Daring and confident, it seems like Ricciardo has been a victim of bad timing and bad decisions. Something that many great drivers have suffered from over the years. As Mercedes reigned dominant and prodigy Max Verstappen joined the grid, Ricciardo never really got the chance he might have thought he deserved. Whether he’d have been better off staying at Red Bull, no one can say for sure. But undoubtedly, this isn’t where he wanted to find himself.

At first, it seemed like Ricciardo’s step into Alpha Tauri, replacing the underperforming Nyck DeVries, might have been the last hurrah the Aussie needed to secure a name for himself in Formula 1. With Sergio Perez’s underwhelming performances in 2023, Ricciardo had a real chance to prove himself to the championship winning team. With his history and close relationship to important Red Bull figures, Ricciardo was proclaimed as the obvious choice to replace Perez.

Of course, he had to prove himself first.

Instead, on his third weekend back in Formula 1, tragedy struck the 8-time race winner. In an attempt to avoid Oscar Piastri, Ricciardo crashed during practice 2 in the Netherlands and suffered a break to his hand which took him out of the following 5 races.

His replacement? Rookie Liam Lawson.

Lawson managed to make a name for himself in that short 5-race period. Out-qualifying and knocking out the current world champion, Verstappen, at the Singapore Grand Prix was one of his big moments. Followed by the securing of 2 points in his 3rd ever race, Lawson had many declaring that he should find himself in a Formula 1 seat as soon as possible.

Now, a year later, Lawson could be getting his chance.

Ricciardo hasn’t made the impact he perhaps might have wanted following his dismissal from McLaren at the end of 2022. His teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, has 22 points to his 12 and has seemed to be on equal foot or better throughout this season. No longer does it look like Ricciardo is the obvious choice to take the second seat at Red Bull. Especially now that it’s come to light that Perez’s struggles were largely due to the fundamental issues with the car. Failing to beat Lando Norris at McLaren can be excused, but up against Tsunoda it appears as if Ricciardo has truly lost the spark that once made him so great.

Coming into Singapore, the rumour that this could be Ricciardo’s last race in Formula 1 seemed to come out of nowhere. They revealed that Lawson looked set to take the Aussie’s spot for the Austin Grand Prix next month. Looking at the reaction from the rest of the grid and the crew at RB, it seems the rumours might have held some weight. But even now, with the weekend having past, nothing has been confirmed for sure.

“Given this may have been Daniel’s last race, we wanted to give him the chance to savour it and go out with the fastest lap.”

Strangely, it seems even Laurent Mekies – RB team principal – seems to not have the answers to who will be driving the car next race. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the decision making is coming from the top, from Red Bull, and that Ricciardo has become a small cog in bigger operations.

Though the rumours appear to have come out of nowhere, it’s not entirely unexpected that they’ve come up at all. With the current pool of Red Bull drivers the weakest they’ve ever had, it looks like the team are prepared to try something new. A late-season swap is not exactly new to the Belgian team. In 2017 alone there were four swaps in the final few rounds of the championship. Evidently, the situation isn’t much different now.

With Tsunoda already confirmed for 2025, Ricciardo’s seat is the obvious sacrifice. It’s clear that they’ve given up on Ricciardo as the shining hope for the functionally wavering Red Bull team. After his less-than-spectacular performance at the beginning of the season, Red Bull’s decision to stick with Perez confirmed this. If they want to test the New Zealand driver out before signing him to the junior team for next season, it makes sense to put him in Ricciardo’s car for the final six races to guarantee that he’ll be the best choice for their future.

“It’s been a little bit of a race-by-race situation and I would have obviously loved the weekend to have gone better. It didn’t, so I have to be prepared for this maybe being it.”

At the very least, Ricciardo managed to take something out of the inarguably difficult weekend he’s had. Pitting for the third time in the final lap (the only driver to do so), Ricciardo came out with a pair of soft tyres and the intention of going for the fastest lap of the race.

“Daniel obviously wanted to finish the race on a high.”

While the move has brought out further talks about the sensitive nature of a top team having a “junior” team and the ethical questions that have been raised since, Horner and Mekies have both referred to it as a potential final swan song for the Australian driver.

While achieving this last accolade of his career in Formula 1, Riccardo has also managed to help his ex-teammate and good friend, Verstappen, in protecting his championship lead against the much-quicker McLaren of Norris. Now, with Ricciardo’s help, if Verstappen finishes second to Norris at the following six races, they will go into Abu Dhabi equal on points. Whether Ricciardo considered this as he pitted for the final time, we can’t know for sure. But, perhaps, it will bring him some consolation to see a good friend beat the team that ousted him back in 2022.

There will be a lot of people across the paddock and beyond who will be sad to see Ricciardo go. A fan favourite across the masses, Ricciardo won’t be leaving Formula 1 without his triumphs. At 35-years-old, Ricciardo departs with 8 wins and 32 podiums under his belt. He finished best of the rest in 2016 and 2014, despite the presence of a 4-time world champion on the opposite side of the garage. Unquestionably, he should be proud of all he’s done and what he’s managed to achieve in his time in Formula 1.

Still so young, Ricciardo could go anywhere he’d like in the motorsport world and be faced with welcoming arms from everyone.