Daniel Ricciardo's Emotional Response to Singapore Grand Prix

On lap 48 of the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, Daniel Ricciardo pitted for soft tires while running outside the points. The VCARB driver had the freshest tires to end the race, allowing him to grab the point for the fastest lap away from Lando Norris on the penultimate lap.

In doing so, Ricciardo ensured that Verstappen lost seven points instead of eight in his championship lead.

Ricciardo would finish 18th as the last driver to finish after Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen retired.

Speculations have been spiraling around the F1 paddock that Ricciardo may be replaced with reserve driver Liam Lawson before the season ends. The NZ Herald reported at the start of August that there is a firm deadline by which Lawson will be in a seat worked into his contract; this is one of the reasons Lawson has waited patiently in the wings.

At the end of the race, Ricciardo was announced as the Driver of the Day, a fan-voted award that usually goes to a race winner or driver who made the most significant improvement from where they started. This time, Ricciardo's fans used it as a chance to potentially say goodbye to this favorite driver after a 13-year-long career.

After the race was over, Ricciardo was slow to leave his cockpit. F1 TV asked the 35-year-old driver what he was going through at that moment.

"A lot of emotions, look, I’m aware that it could be it," Ricciardo responded. "It’s also just exhaustion after the race, just a flood of many emotions and feelings and exhaustion. The cockpit is something that I have been very used to for many years; I just wanted to savor the moment."

Through his ups and downs, Ricciardo has found himself in an F1 cockpit, albeit sometimes as a third driver every year since being hired on as a Red Bull test driver in 2009.

Ricciardo spent most of his time in the Red Bull Racing family between Red Bull and its sister team known at different times as Toro Rosso, Alpha Tauri, and now VCARB. His most recent stint came after he returned to the family after spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons with McLaren before mutually ending their contract and signing on as Red Bull's third driver. Ricciardo replaced Nick De Vyres last year, moving back into a seat with then Alpha Tauri.

Ricciardo hoped this was the start of his comeback story. Ultimately, leading into the weekend, Ricciardo had only captured 12 points, finishing inside the top 10 on three occasions and fourth in the Miami Sprint Race. Tsunoda has been extended with VCARB through next season and has 22 points.

Singapore was a must-preform race for the Australian driver, but a poor qualifying effort saw him out after Q1 for the second race in a row, as his teammate Yuki Tsunoda moved on.

Ricciardo, starting in the back and lacking the speed to fight up through the field on the tight street circuit, relayed on an alternative pit strategy to try and catch a safety car at the right time, lucking into a better finish.

For the first time since Singapore was added to the F1 calendar in 2008, there wasn't a single yellow flag thrown.

"Tough race; anytime you’re out in Q1, it’s potentially a long day," Ricciardo said. "You have to try something with strategy, and you never know here; with a safety car, it could work in your favor. Obviously, there wasn’t a safe car today, so our strategy was a little undone. I think, ultimately, we just weren’t quite quick enough. I don’t know the whole picture of Yuki’s race, but I saw he also finished outside of the points, so perhaps we just didn’t have the overall pace in the race stints."

"I guess it helped Max out by Abu Dubai. Maybe there’s a Christmas present coming if he wins by a point.

Capturing the fastest lap of the race accomplished nothing for Ricciardo himself; the extra point is only awarded if the driver finishes inside the top ten.

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