Big Blow for Daniel Ricciardo & Mick Schumacher as Ex-Mercedes F1 Reserve Emerges as Front Runner for Haas Seat

Daniel Ricciardo at the start of 2021 would have been looking forward to accelerating his career further. He finished 5th in last year’s championship and had moved from Renault to McLaren, replacing Carlos Sainz. The only way to go was up.

However, things did not even come to what he would have planned.

With 16 races of the season done with, he is currently 14th with only 19 points. McLaren has decided to let him go, to replace him with compatriot, Oscar Piastri. He now stands with no plan for the 2023 season.

Similarly, Mick Schumacher is having a tough time adjusting to the ropes in F1. With stellar showings in his F2 career, his step up was expected to be much smoother. But things haven’t gone well for the German as well.

Schumacher’s future now has become the subject of uncertainty as well. Not only has Haas team principal, Guenther Steiner has not given confirmation regarding Schumacher’s retention for next season, but he has also conceded that Nico Hulkenberg, Ex-Mercedes F1 reserve driver, is a candidate.

Moreover, he says with regard to Haas’ next year’s lineup, “Everybody with a superlicence is on the list,” he told Autosport. “I think he’s a candidate like all the other ones, because he’s got a superlicence, he has done F1, he has experience. I mean, there is nobody who is racing now that you could get if you wanted to change. We just have to see what is the best decision.”

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While this sounds concern for Mick, it is also another bad news for Ricciardo. In what has been a very tough past few months, this news adds further burdens regarding his career trajectory.

Daniel Ricciardo’s streak of bad luck continues

Daniel Ricciardo’s string of poor luck began since his switch to McLaren from Renault. He ended his first season with just one podium finish. 2022 is not going well too. It further worsened when he was blindsided by McLaren. McLaren announced he would be replaced by Oscar Piastri for 2023, which has left him without a team.

He has said “I asked if I could do less simulator. It was always clear when all this was decided that anything related to this year and getting the most of the rest of the year remains the same. So, if there’s any talks about next year’s car, then yes, I’m not involved in that.”

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With the Haas seat seemingly going to Nico Hulkenberg, Ricciardo has a lot to think about. With reserve roles open at Mercedes, Alpine, and Williams, among others, he will be crossing his fingers.