Daniel Ricciardo Enters Possibly the Last Race of His F1 Career With Heavy Disadvantage

Haas was having the best weekend they could have hoped for. That was until Daniel Ricciardo took Kevin Magnussen out in the first lap of the Brazilian GP. The turn 9 incident has now had him take a 3-place grid penalty for the next week’s Abu Dhabi GP. The final race of the season could well be the final race of his F1 career.

Kevin Magnussen kicked off the weekend by taking the pole position against all odds in qualifying. While the race win was still a far-fetched dream, the delivery of some solid points was expected from the Dane. Magnussen started the race in P8 after expectedly falling down the pecking order in the sprint race but could not go much further than just a few turns on race day.

Daniel Ricciardo takes a huge penalty ahead of the final race of the season

Daniel Ricciardo has failed to impress after his two years at McLaren. The Honey Badger had his 3-year contract cut short to just two years after a series of failed performances. Resultantly, he decided to take a year off from F1 to gather his thoughts and take a much-needed break. While he intends to make a comeback in 2024, things are never certain in Formula 1.

His first lap incident involving Kevin Magnussen was noted by the race stewards and the verdict duly arrived. The FIA stewards, upon investigation, found Ricciardo was “wholly to blame” for the entire incident. While McLaren and Ricciardo in their meeting with the stewards held Magnussen to be too slow, the stewards concluded otherwise.

Read More: “What a Sh*t Move”: Daniel Ricciardo Faces the Fury of F1 Fans for Careless Shunt With Brazilian GP Hero Kevin Magnussen

After Ricciardo had hit Magnussen from behind, making the Haas driver spin, he was taken out as the Haas car collided with him, sending the Australian into the barriers.

Will Daniel Ricciardo take the reserve driver’s role for 2023?

As Ricciardo made his intentions of staying away from the track for a year known, he had Mercedes and Red Bull approach him to fill in the shoes of the third driver on their team. While Daniel hasn’t confirmed whether he will take the role, he lay out his demands in case he does.

Speaking ahead of the Brazilian GP, Ricciardo said, “Fortunately I feel like I’ve done enough to make this case a little unique and cater for it in a way – obviously it has to work on both side – but it has to sit well with me.”

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Will the 3-place grid penalty ruin the Honey Badger’s final race of the season? Will he settle for a reserve driver’s seat next year? What are your thoughts?