Why Ricciardo deserves a proper F1 farewell, even if his time is up

OPINION: The undercurrent in the Singapore F1 paddock suggested that the Marina Bay race would be Daniel Ricciardo's last in F1, although RB is yet to officially make a call. And, for someone who raced at the front of F1 for so long, the Australian deserves a far more fitting send-off

"So that's it after 13 years, so long, good luck?"
"I don't recall saying good luck."

A slightly paraphrased line from The Simpsons, where the hapless Kirk Van Houten gets fired from his job at the cracker factory, rather sums up the apathetic approach to Daniel Ricciardo's potential exit from Formula 1. Most people understand that Singapore was his last race for RB before Liam Lawson gets drafted into the line-up for the United States Grand Prix. But the team has kept largely schtum; Laurent Mekies 'strongly hinted' that the perma-grinning Australian might have driven his last - even saying as much in the team's post-race press release.

But if Ricciardo had any clarity on his situation, he did a fine job of pretending he had no clue whether he'd be back after the four-week lay-off. In truth, he probably didn't need to pretend, as it's not like there was any sense of closure in the Singapore aftermath.

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Author Jake Boxall-Legge

Jake studied engineering at university, as his original ambition was to design racing cars. He was bad at that, and thus decided to write about them instead with an equally limited skillset. The above article is a demonstration of that. In his spare time, Jake enjoys people, places, and things.