A retreat without rancor
Daniel Ricciardo returns to talk about his sensational farewell to Formula 1which took place in a completely irregular manner, without any particular catwalks or even a formal announcement that that Singapore GP 2024 – which wasn’t even the final race of the season – would be the last of his career. The strong Australian driver, who certainly left a mark in the GP paddock regardless of the victories, however, does not hold a grudge and, indeed, with hindsight wanted to thank Red Bull for that dismissal with immediate effect – the second in two championships, given that he had already left his seat at the end of 2022 McLaren to Oscar Piastri despite still having a year left on his contract – which helped him make a decision, that of retiring, which would otherwise be very difficult to make independently.
Daniel Ricciardo speaks
The 36-year-old Australian recounted his emotions about it during the podcast Driveinterviewed by the CEO of Ford, Jim Farley: “In the end they fired me, that was the reality of the facts at the time (after the 2024 Singapore GP, ed). And I believe that, All things considered, I’ve been fired twice in the last two years I’ve been racing in Formula 1. It’s drained me.I put all my soul into it and I was exhausted. Looking back though, I’m grateful to Red Bull for making the decision for me. Otherwise I think it would have been very difficult for me to say independently ‘Okay, it’s over‘. Instead in that case I think I understood that I was done with racing because I knew that it was becoming difficult for me to perform at the level at which I could have done so. For some reason I missed something, and it’s okay to admit it”.
“There are people who love you and who will continue to tell you that you are amazing and that you can do it – he adds – but as much as you love them back, you just have to close the door, make that decision for yourself, and be really honest with yourself. If I had made it to the end of last year, I think I would still have had a lot of these thoughts and I would have that internal dialogue, because I knew it was getting harder and that I would have to dig really deep to get a result that I was proud of. You always want to believe that everyone cares about you, and they probably still do, but they don’t know what it’s like to be you and be in your situation.“. “Last year, after retiring, I gave myself a lot of time to reflect and come to terms with my career”, concluded Daniel Ricciardo, now Ford brand ambassador.
