With Daniel Ricciardo out of the Red Bull VCARB seat, we are pondering what next for the Australian after F1.
While a return to F1 looks off the cards for the immediate future, there are plenty more fish in the sea for Ricciardo to choose from. Here are some of the options we think he may consider.
What next for Daniel Ricciardo after his Red Bull departure?
An obvious next step would be a move behind the mic with the Australian already a media favourite from his interviews and time on Netflix.
Ricciardo clearly has the chops for a media role but it’s whether he wants to the pundit position like Jenson Button and David Coulthard or if he wants to concentrate on doing some fun side projects.
The bonus of a media role means it is fairly flexible should another racing opportunity arise so this could be the perfect stop gap in Ricciardo’s career.
NASCAR
Ricciardo’s popularity in the US as well, as his love of Dale Earnhardt, has made links to NASCAR very obvious.
The Australian has touched on that subject before, but suggested he would be more open to giving it a try then going full time.
Where did it all go wrong for Daniel Ricciardo?
“I know it’s not what I grew up doing and I’ll probably get smoked. [So] I don’t know if I need that [but] I would love to experience it.”
Red Bull ambassador role
It’s a spot he has been in before but the idea of staying within the Red Bull group and doing PR events may be one Ricciardo takes up.
After leaving McLaren in 2022, Ricciardo was in a similar role at the start of 2023 and was essentially the face of Red Bull without being in the seat.
At the time, that was seen as a way back into the team but with that door now closed, will Ricciardo want to do the PR stunts again?
He has the money to not need to work so it may look a bit humilating if he is back on the sidelines.
Go for the Triple Crown?
It would be a big ask but at the age of 35, it’s not like Ricciardo is a busted flush.
The Australian already has one third of the Triple Crown done having won the Monaco Grand Prix in 2018, so what’s stopping him going for the Indy 500 and Le Mans?
IndyCar seems a more natural step for Ricciardo rather than endurance racing but if he does pull off an Indy 500 win, it would be great to see him try and match the feat only achieved by Graham Hill.
Full-time IndyCar switch
If he does not fancy NASCAR then another move to the US could come through IndyCar.
This one is a little more doubtful because while the cars are more similar to F1 than NASCAR, Ricciardo has made it clear he does not fancy the series’ oval circuits.
In 2022, he said: “F**k that. Ovals scare me.”
But being in IndyCar and not doing the ovals has been done before and the likes of Romain Grosjean said they would never do ovals, yet ended up racing them down the line.
No doubt most teams on the IndyCar grid would love to get a driver of Ricciardo’s calibre and popularity so this could be an option if he wants to keep racing.
Put all efforts into returning to F1 2026
While the world assumed the Singapore Grand Prix was his last race, there was no confirmation from the man himself that it was.
Ricciardo previously made it clear it was Red Bull or bust but the fact he did not outright announce his retirement suggests he may see a way back into F1.
That coming at Red Bull seems almost impossible, but there could be another team willing to take a chance on him.
If that moment does come, it will most likely be F1 2026 and only 12 drivers are currently signed up for that season or beyond.
Retirement
With a reported net worth of over $50million, one option for Ricciardo is to just sail off into the sunset.
Having moved away from his native Australia at a young age to pursue his F1 dream, why wouldn’t he want to spend some time back at home?
A few years to decompress may turn into a few more and soon Ricciardo may wonder why he would want to get back into racing at all.
Of course only he would know if this is an option he wants to pressure, but do not be surprised if we don’t hear from the Honey Badger for a while.
Plenty of options but F1 may still be Daniel Ricciardo’s dream
As you can see, Ricciardo is not short of options as he tries to work out what to do next but he may suffer from the same affliction that many F1 drivers do and that is a desire to race in F1 and F1 alone.
If Ricciardo harbours dreams of an F1 comeback, the earliest possible return would most likely be F1 2026 but it would be good to see him try his hand at another racing series in the meantime.
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