Daniel Ricciardo Will Leave McLaren at the End of the Season, With No F1 Seat Lined Up

After months of rumors, the news is finally confirmed: Daniel Ricciardo will leave the McLaren Formula 1 team at the end of the 2022 season. Despite a notable win at Monza—McLaren's first and only since 2012—the Australian driver struggled at the team, regularly getting outperformed by younger teammate Lando Norris.

"Daniel has been a great addition to McLaren, and it’s been a pleasure working with him," said McLaren racing CEO Zak Brown in a statement. "I'd like to thank him for all of his efforts over the last two seasons both trackside and back at base. It's no secret that we hoped we could achieve more together but seeing him stand on the top step of the podium as a McLaren driver was a highlight. We wish him well for the future and let's go enjoy the rest of the season together."

Ricciardo struggled to get acclimated at McLaren, and despite signs of a turnaround towards the end of the 2021 season, the 2022 has been more of the same. Currently, Ricciardo is 12th in the standings while Norris is 7th.

Back in May, Brown notably said to media that Ricciardo's time with McLaren hadn't met expectations, prompting the driver to issue a statement that he intended to stay with the team in 2023, as per his contract. Autosport reports that McLaren will pay out the remainder of his contract, while he is free to race wherever he likes.

There's still a question mark over who will fill the seat at McLaren, which has had all kinds of notable seat-filling drama of late. Brown has given IndyCar stars Pato O'Ward and Colton Herta F1 testing opportunities, though the team apparently expressed interest in F2 champion Oscar Piastri. Piastri is a part of Alpine's driver academy, and the team announced he would drive for them in F1 following the shock departure of Fernando Alonso. Astonishingly, Piastri said he wouldn't drive for Alpine, and it came out that he was in talks to join McLaren. Alpine believes it still has the right to Piastri in 2023 and whether or not that's the case will be determined by the FIA Contract Recognition Board.

In a video posted to Twitter, Ricciardo says he doesn't know what his next step is. If he wants to remain in F1, there's the possibility of the Alpine seat reopening, otherwise, he would have to go to a lesser team, like Haas.

If he can't find an F1 seat, it would be a blow to the sport. He's one of the most popular drivers on the grid, especially in the U.S., which has seen a huge increase in F1 fans thanks to the Drive to Survive Netflix series. With three races in the U.S. set for next year, F1 won't want to lose Ricciardo.

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