Daniel Ricciardo bids farewell to Woking

Daniel Ricciardo will compete in its last Grand Prix on Sunday in Abu Dhabi with McLaren. The Australian driver will indeed leave the British team at the end of this last race of the 2022 season. The native of Perth therefore bid farewell to the McLaren factory, located in Woking (Great Britain), where he was celebrated by employees with his 2021 Italian Grand Prix winner's trophy. His victory at Monza will remain as his main feat of arms with McLaren, at the end of two disappointing seasons. 

Reserve driver in 2023?

Will the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix also be Daniel Ricciardo's last in Formula 1 ? The Aussie will not be on the grid in 2023, but hopes to find an opportunity to return in 2024. In the meantime, he could remain in F1 circles with a reserve driver position at Mercedes ou Red Bull. " It seems to me that Daniel is speaking with several teams regarding a possible reserve position., advanced Toto wolff on the sidelines of the Mexican Grand Prix. It even seems to me that he is exchanging with Red Bull. For our part, it's a profile that we really like, he's a great character. However, we are not yet in a position to decide who our reserve will be next year. He has a great personality and has been in the business for a long time, he knows these cars inside and out. This could be a great advantage."

It was also in México that Daniel Ricciardo gave us one of his last moments of brilliance with a beautiful 7th place obtained thanks to a daring strategy, despite a collision with Yuki tsunoda (Alpha Tauri). “I saw the replay and it wasn’t blatant. I came in, blocked and crashed into him, explained Daniel Ricciardo when talking about his clash with the Japanese. I feel like I kept a pretty tight trajectory. Maybe it was a bit of my fault, there are a lot of blind spots, but all we needed was to give ourselves an extra 30 centimeters and then we were good. » In Brazil, another collision ended his race on the first lap, the one involving him with the hero of the weekend, Kevin Magnussen.

The stewards, after an investigation, imposed three place penalties on Ricciardo on the starting grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Not the best way to start what could be your last race in the discipline...

Saying Goodbye to the team back home at the MTC. 🧡🇬🇧

Thank you, @DanielRicciardo. pic.twitter.com/HX9oygckTN

- McLaren (@ McLarenF1) November 16, 2022

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