Daniel Ricciardo ‘contractual reasons’ hint dropped after Singapore Grand Prix ‘charade’ exposed

Saying Daniel Ricciardo had to go through the “charade” of leaving his F1 future undetermined, Sky F1’s Karun Chandhok hinted at “contractual reasons” being at play.

The 2024 Singapore Grand Prix proved to be Ricciardo’s final race with Red Bull second team VCARB – Liam Lawson taking over for the rest of the season – but despite strong speculation that this would be his fate, confirmation only arrived on the Thursday following the race, Ricciardo having only gone as far as saying there was a “realistic chance” that he would not be in the car come Austin.

Karun Chandhok felt ‘awkward’ for Daniel Ricciardo through Singapore ‘charade’

And it was a situation which Chandhok said made for an awkward feeling for not only Ricciardo, but Lawson as well.

“I can only assume there was some contractual reasons as to why it played out the way it did,” said Sky F1 pundit Chandhok in a Reddit AMA session.

“You know, Daniel, I felt for him that Singapore weekend because it seemed like from the Thursday he knew he was out after Singapore, he knew that was his last weekend. But he had to go through this whole weekend of this charade of saying, ‘I don’t know, let’s see what happens, blah, blah, blah.’

“I felt awkward for him and awkward for the people watching. I feel for Liam as well because he’s coming in to replace arguably one of the most popular drivers F1 has had in the last decade who hasn’t had a chance to do a proper send off.”

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Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko confirmed Ricciardo was aware that Singapore was his final race weekend in the VCARB, Lawson admitting it was not a pleasant experience for him as he spent the race weekend embedded in Ricciardo’s side of the garage.

Lawson had known of what would happen for weeks before.

“Not good, honestly,” he told Newstalk ZB when asked how it felt to be there in that situation. “Singapore was definitely not an enjoyable weekend for me.

“Just because obviously, we all knew what was sort of coming and at the same time, Daniel has always been very good to me, and in a lot of ways, when I drove last year and then even this season, he’s always been somebody that I’ve never felt in competition with him, or anything like that. He never made it feel like that.

“So it wasn’t a nice feeling.”

Ricciardo cut an emotional figure at the Marina Bay Circuit on what could prove his final F1 race weekend, but in response to the backlash which Red Bull faced from some sections of the F1 fanbase, former Red Bull driver David Coulthard said he heard Ricciardo could have made the announcement there if he had wanted to.

“One thing that’s interesting – rumour, rather than I’ve seen it with my own eyes – was that he actually knew from a few races back that it would be finishing in Singapore,” Coulthard claimed on the Formula For Success podcast.

“He had the opportunity, obviously, to make that public and he chose not to.”

Ricciardo scored 12 points to VCARB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s 22 across their 18 F1 2024 rounds together.

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