VCARB make ‘frustrating’ Daniel Ricciardo exit admission without proper farewell

Laurent Mekies has revealed VCARB and Daniel Ricciardo “chose together” to not announce that Singapore would be his final race with the team, a decision he admits in hindsight was “not ideal”.

Rumours had swirled at the Marina Bay circuit claiming that Ricciardo could be replaced by Liam Lawson for the final six races of the season.

Daniel Ricciardo and VCARB ‘chose together’ not to announce his exit in Singapore

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

However, even after the race, which ended with Ricciardo snatching the fastest lap in what would prove to be his final hurrah, he wouldn’t give a straight answer.

“Possibly, I have to acknowledge that,” he said when asked if Singapore had been his last Grand Prix.

“It’s been a little bit of a race-by-race situation and I would have obviously loved the weekend to have gone better. It didn’t, so I have to prepared for this maybe being it.”

And ‘it’ it was, VCARB announcing four days later that he had been replaced by Lawson.

Fans took to social media to condemn VCARB and Red Bull’s handling of the situation, calling it “embarrassing”, “shocking” and that Ricciardo “deserved better” with a “proper” send-off.

“Y’all did him dirty,” wrote one user while also saying Ricciardo’s “departure is one of the worse things I have witnessed in watching Formula One for over 60 years.”

Mekies accepts it could’ve been handled better, but revealed that Ricciardo also had a say in not telling anyone that it was his swansong with the team.

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“I think the answer is yes, it was frustrating [keeping it a secret],” the VCARB team boss told the media including PlanetF1.com in Austin.

“And yes, you’re right, it was not ideal to go through the weekend in that way, first of all for him, on a professional and on a personal matter, and for the whole team around him.

“Yes, Daniel was aware. We did have discussions before the weekend. For many different reasons, we chose together to go into that weekend without announcing. And from that point onwards, we had to deal with it.

“It’s a decision that, in hindsight, we may or may not do differently. But it’s something that we were, both the team and the drivers, were on board to go through that now.”

The team did acknowledge Ricciardo on the Sunday as the Aussie was given the opportunity to sign off with a 17th fastest lap to add to his career stats before being greeted by a guard of honour as he returned to the VCARB hospitality.

“I think in one way or another, we all found a way to express how much love there is from the sport to Daniel, from the fans to Daniel,” Mekies continued.

“So I don’t know if it would have been better or worse, certainly different, more traditional, but I can hopefully say that the amount of love and empathy we felt through that weekend was something outstanding and something that shows that he’s bigger than an F1 driver, he’s bigger than F1.”

Ricciardo has yet to announce his plans having recently worn a tongue-in-cheek ‘I’m retired’ hat in a light-hearted social media post.

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