Daniel Ricciardo ‘spotted’ with Piastri after losing McLaren F1 drive

Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo at 2022 McLaren launch

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Daniel Ricciardo has appeared to have been spotted in a McLaren sports car with compatriot Oscar Piatsri despite the youngster stealing his drive at the British manufacturer. Ricciardo could be seen through the window of the orange supercar as the pair cruised around the streets of Melbourne.

The image was taken on the Maroondah Highway near Box Hill, less than 30 minutes away from the Albert Park Circuit which hosted the Australian Grand Prix. It comes after Piastri revealed he was in Melbourne for a break on Instagram with just weeks to go before the F1 season roars into life.

Ricciardo has admitted there were no hard feelings between him and Piastri despite being axed for the former F2 champion. The 21-year-old publicly ditched Alpine after being promoted to a race seat when Fernando Alonso left the team.

The two teams fought at F1’s Contract Recognition Board (CRB) to secure the services of the highly-rated Piastri. However, McLaren’s deal was found to be the only valid offer which confirmed Ricciardo’s exit.

Controversially, the CRB report revealed Piastri’s deal was signed on July 4, weeks before Ricciardo was informed of his F1 departure. Ricciardo claimed his future at McLaren was secure over the French Grand Prix two weeks later while the eight-time race winner’s departure was only announced in August.

However, Ricciardo has not blamed Piastri for the move and has held private talks with the youngster ahead of his F1 debut. He explained: “I want him to have a good run in F1, so it’s just the circumstances and that’s how it is but I still obviously like Mark a lot and respect him.”

“What we spoke about is private, but also it doesn’t bother me saying it, I wanted to tell him that there’s no hard feelings because if there’s no communication, you never know what someone’s feeling or thinking.

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“Obviously he’s a lot younger than me, so I don’t know maybe how he feels, if he’s nervous to reach out and see how I’m doing. I wanted to make sure that it was clear that I understand his position and absolutely no hard feelings.”

Piastri revealed he had been planning on getting in touch with Ricciardo before the former race winner contacted him. He also praised the ex-Red Bull star, adding that his support would “help a lot” ahead of his first race in Bahrain in March.

He commented: “A true professional, Daniel is. My respect for him was already extremely high and it’s only gotten higher in the way he’s responded. With him getting in touch like that, it was great for me personally. Knowing that there’s no hard feelings, that really helped me quite a lot – it was a nice moment.”

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