Daniel Ricciardo tipped to leave F1 at the end of the season with McLaren future in doubt

Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo at 2022 McLaren launch

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Daniel Ricciardo has been tipped to leave F1 at the end of the 2022 campaign with his contract set to be terminated early by McLaren. The Australian has endured a difficult 2022 campaign so far, lying 12th in the drivers’ standings with just 22 points to his name.

His woes have been compounded by a bad crash in practice at Monaco, with car damage proving an extra strain on teams this year given the reduced budget cap. It follows a first season with the British team where he was out-performed by younger teammate Lando Norris, despite ‘The Honey Badger’ notching a famous win in Monza.

Speculation is rife that McLaren are exploring the option of tearing up Ricciardo’s contract before the year is out, with the star reportedly demanding £12 million to agree to an early release. The saga has taken an explosive twist after Oscar Piastri dramatically revealed he wouldn’t be replacing the outgoing Fernando Alonso at Alpine.

Piastri has now been tipped to join Norris at McLaren, with Alonso replacing Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin. And now former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has been discussing who should take the Spaniard’s seat.

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“And then there is the question of Daniel Ricciardo,” said the former Williams, Jordan and Toyota driver on the Sky Germany website. “Personally, I can’t imagine him getting another chance in Formula 1. But I wouldn’t know who Alpine should take at the moment.”

The charismatic star is a popular figure on the F1 circuit, but despite his undoubted talent, has never captured an F1 title. His best finishes came in 2014 and 2016, finishing third with Red Bull behind the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

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Regardless, Ricciardo doesn’t seem to be overly stressing about the current uncertainty. He’s used the four-week break in the F1 calendar to go on holiday, posting an image of him swimming alongside a caption which simply said “hello” with a sun emoji.

The image racked up more than 817,000 likes on Instagram, along with plenty of supportive comments for the Perth-born driver. The F1 campaign resumes on the weekend of August 26-28 in Belgium.

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