Regretful Daniel Ricciardo Looks at Retiring Champ Sebastian Vettel Amid Approaching F1 Exit

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was a crowd favorite until the last few years that didn’t go quite well for the Honey Badger. Ricciardo and McLaren came to a mutual understanding of going forth with the termination of Ricciardo’s contract by the end of the current season. Many have had contradicting opinions about the same.

Daniel Ricciardo’s driving career was spiraling before his last couple of races in the current season. Where he rose to the occasion. In fact, the Honey Badger even managed to bag ‘Driver of the Day’ back in Mexico City for the Mexican Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel, as well, has his contract coming to an end with Aston Martin. With that, the legendary F1 driver is bidding the track adieu. Vettel has been showcasing a tremendous performance before his last exit from the game. Almost making most people question his decision to leave.

Much like him, Ricciardo will not be on the grid officially for the upcoming season, although, for very different reasons. Nonetheless, the Aussie compared his journey at the end of season 23′ to Sebastian Vettel’s.

In a recent interview, Ricciardo claimed that he still has what it takes to be a good racer. He explained, “I still know I can [get the job done]. It’s hard when you can’t do it week in and week out.”

“It’s a bit like Vettel those last few races–he did phenomenal races and then people are questioning ‘is it time to retire?'”

“I think all of us can still do it on our day. But I still love it. And I still want to get to the front,” the Aussie concluded.

Read More: “I’ve Had a Lot Of Knockdowns…”: Before Parting Ways, Daniel Ricciardo Opens Up On Grim F1 Career

The Honey Badger also shared his thoughts on his performance at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo on his performance at the Mexican Grand Prix

Ricciardo started the race back in Mexico at p11. Struggling at the beginning, the Aussie fell to the position of P13, eventually. Only to stick it through, and not only finish the race in P7 but also bag the ‘Driver of the Day’ win. All this, despite the 10-second penalty that Ricciardo had to face on account of his minor crash with Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Talking about the race, Ricciardo shared, “I guess better late than never. I’ll take it for what it is, I’ll enjoy it and appreciate we did our pace and it was awesome and whatever.”

“I hope it means it will be like that the next two races. Not to be negative, I don’t even want to look ahead, I just want to take this for what it is. And hopefully we’ve learned something from it.”

In terms of strategy, Ricciardo explained that as a team, they focused on defending rather than attacking all this while. He believes that attacking will take them forward. His confidence in the McLaren car, which he believes holds the ability to attack, makes him feel good about the upcoming races.

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With just the last three races left to go, and his performance graph growing, do you think Ricciardo might deliver an unreal performance?