Tuesday evening confirmed what everyone already knew at least on Sunday, and some even earlier: Liam Lawson will take Daniel Ricciardo’s place behind the wheel of the RB car for the remaining races of the season.
The Australian’s career, which started in the summer of 2011 and consisted of 257 starts, 8 wins, 3 pole positions (all three in Monaco!) and 32 podiums, is over.
You can talk about her in the past tense, but Daniel will remain forever, not only in Formula 1 statistics and in the hearts of fans, but he will long be remembered by his friends and rivals, in short, by his colleagues in the paddock. Because he was and remains a cool guy, like few in this sport.
Here’s how some drivers and team managers reacted to yesterday’s news…
Christian Horner: “From the moment you joined Red Bull, it was clear that you were more than just a driver. Your continued enthusiasm, sense of humor and can-do attitude will remain an integral part of the legacy of our team and F1 as a whole.
Thank you for the victories, for the smiles, for the songs (I would like to add champagne from a shoe here, but that’s not possible) – you will always have a special place in the Red Bull family. Your performance isn’t just measured by statistics and countless awards. Thank you, Daniel!”
Zac Brown: “Daniel, you are the one and only. You are an exceptionally fast racer and a great person.
Your victory at Monza will forever remain in McLaren history. It was one of the best moments of my life, I even have a tattoo to prove it! I know this day meant a lot to you too.
I wish you new adventures – I know that you will achieve success in every endeavor!
The Alpine F1 team in the two seasons that Ricciardo played for was called Renault, and they too responded: “You will remain in the history of our team forever. Thanks for the good times Daniel, we will miss you.”
Lewis Hamilton perhaps summed up the feelings of the racing community best: “It has been an honor to compete with you all these years. I will never forget these duels, your laughter and how I drank champagne from your shoe on stage (at this point Lewis added a green emoticon, indicating that he, shall we say, did not enjoy that experience). It was all cool, but I’m glad I got to share it all with you.
You always remained yourself and that is not easy in our sport. But you took everything with a big smile, and I commend you for that. Many interesting things await you, and I would like to know soon what you will do in the next phase. Friend, I am with you always!
Of course, Daniel did not remain silent either, and here is his comment, in which he did not betray himself either:
“I have loved this sport all my life. This trip was crazy and amazing at the same time.
I thank all the teams and all the people who played a role in it. Thank you to the fans who sometimes loved this sport more than me! Haha!
Joy and sadness always alternate, but I had fun and honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. Until the next adventure!
At the time of publication of our text, these words of Daniel collected almost three million likes on social networks – you must agree, this says something.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
