Daniel Ricciardo’s former F1 team has left the door open for the Australian to return after it was confirmed his time with McLaren will end this season.
Key points:
- Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer says his team highly rates Daniel Ricciardo
- Ricciardo raced for the team, who were called Renault, for two seasons
- The Australian will leave McLaren at the end of the season
Despite having a year left on his contract, Ricciardo and McLaren will part ways at the end of 2022 after a run of disappointing results.
It is widely expected fellow Australian Oscar Piastri, who is the reserve driver for Alpine, will drive for McLaren next season.
Ricciardo, who spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Alpine team — when they raced as Renault — could make a return after team principal Otmar Szafnauer spoke highly of the eight-time race winner.
“The team speak very highly of Daniel and his time here,” he told Sky Sports F1 in the UK.
“We haven’t had those strategic discussions yet. But everyone I speak to, the engineering team, they really speak highly of his skill as a driver and as a team motivator.”
Ricciardo has said he still has the desire to compete in Formula 1 next season but said he is willing to look for other opportunities if the right deal is not offered to him.
Szafnauer also took aim at Piastri in his interview with Sky Sports F1, saying he wished the 21-year-old “had a bit more integrity”.
Piastri was named as the second driver for Alpine after Fernando Alonso announced he was leaving the team at the end of the year for Aston Martin.
The Australian sensationally contradicted Alpine’s announcement, saying no contract had been signed and he would not drive for the team.
Piastri is believed to have signed with McLaren, despite Alpine claiming they have a contract with him.
It will be decided by F1’s Contract Recognition Board next week.
“I think the right thing for us to do is go to the CRB on Monday, see how that pans out and then start looking at some negotiations in earnest,” Szafnauer said.
“He signed a piece a piece of paper as well back in November and we’ve done everything on our end of the bargain to prepare him for Formula 1, and his end of the bargain was to either drive for us, or take a seat where we would place him for the next three years.
“I just wish Oscar would have remembered what he signed in November and what he signed up to.”
F1 returned from its mid-year break this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix.
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