A decision has been made regarding Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 comeback in a recent vote offered to GPFans’ audience.
The Australian will begin 2025 without a seat in the top tier of motorsport following his dismissal from VCARB in September last year.
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Ricciardo – partnering Yuki Tsunoda – had made no secret of his desire to earn a spot with Red Bull, having made his name in F1 at the Milton Keynes-based outfit at the beginning of his career.
The 35-year-old’s dream looked set to become a reality midway through last season, with the eight-time race winner heavily tipped to replace a struggling Sergio Perez for the remainder of the campaign.
However, it was decided by team boss Christian Horner that the Mexican would be given the chance to rediscover his form, and Ricciardo’s failure to improve his own results at RB ultimately led to his axing, with Liam Lawson stepping in to take his place.
Lawson has since gone on to secure the coveted Red Bull seat alongside defending drivers’ champion Max Verstappen, while the future of Ricciardo remains unclear.
He has had no shortage of offers since departing F1, with racing bosses across the world desperate to bring the popular racer on board.
It’s not the first time the 35-year-old has been forced to taking a break from the sport, having also found himself on the sidelines at the start of the 2023 campaign after his departure from McLaren left him without a seat.
Ricciardo accepted a role as Red Bull’s third driver, before making his comeback in July of that year, stepping in to replace Nyck de Vries at Alpha Tauri.
Now, a GPFans poll has concluded that the Dutchman’s axing – after failing to score a single point in his first 10 F1 outings – as the harshest in the sport’s history.
It was revealed that 47 per cent of fans decided that Ricciardo’s comeback and De Vries’ dismissal was the most brutal, with Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull sacking in favour of Alex Albon back in 2019 coming second after receiving 38 per cent of the nominations.
