Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he will not be on the grid next season after months of speculation over his Formula 1 future.
The 33-year-old is coming to the end of his time with McLaren after failing to ever get any momentum in his two years with the team. He was due to stay until the end of 2023, but the team announced in August that the two parties had agreed to terminate their deal a year earlier than planned.
Only Williams and Haas have seats open for next season, after Alpine announced Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri replaced the Frenchman with Nyck de Vries. Both those options had apparently been open to Ricciardo, who has made it clear he will not simply take a seat simply for the sake of remaining on the grid.
It appears he has decided that neither of them fit in with what he wants going forward. "I think the reality is now I won’t be on the grid in 2023. I think it's now just trying to set up for 2024," he told reporters in Japan. "I think there could be some better opportunities then. So that's really what all this confirms, and now where the sights are set."
While he waits to see what might be available for him in 2024, the suggestion has been that Ricciardo could accept a role with Mercedes as their reserve driver. The Silver Arrows are in need of one, now that De Vries' move to AlphaTauri has been confirmed.
A report last week claimed negotiations between the Australian and Mercedes were at "an advanced stage". Now that seats at Alpine and AlphaTauri have been officially filled, Ricciardo may view that to be a better option than a race seat with Williams or Haas – assuming those teams would be willing to offer the Aussie a deal.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown refused to answer any questions about Ricciardo or his replacement Oscar Piastri when asked by journalists in Australia. He is at the Bathurst 1000 race, in his capacity as a part-owner of the Walkinshaw Andretti United Supercars team.
Piastri won the Formula 2 title last season but failed to land an F1 seat for this year. Instead, he fulfilled his duties as a reserve for Alpine until defecting to their midfield rivals, after a public and drawn-out legal battle over his future which was settled by a ruling from the Contracts Recognition Board.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, has been left fighting for his future and admits he knows it will be tough for him to get back into a race seat after a year out. But he has made peace with dropping off the grid if he has to, saying last month: "I've certainly accepted, if I'm not to be on the grid next year, I'm okay with that."
