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Ricciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 Years

Ricciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 Years 8 photos
Photo: Mclaren
Ricciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 YearsRicciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 YearsRicciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 YearsRicciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 YearsRicciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 YearsRicciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 YearsRicciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 Years
What goes up must come down. That's just the way life works. And it applies to people, companies, empires, and even the animal kingdom. At best, your memory will live on in the history books long after you're gone, if you've accomplished something worthy of that kind of recognition. Otherwise, you'll just have to settle for "All are from the dust, and to dust all return."

Daniel Ricciardo is currently 33 years old. The only other drivers still racing in F1 today that are older than him are Lewis Hamilton (37), Fernando Alonso (41), and Sebastian Vettel (35). While Vettel will retire from the World Championship at the end of this year, Alonso is moving on to Aston Martin for 2023.

The point we're trying to make is that the older you become, the fewer chances you have of being successful in F1. Even if you're in perfect physical shape, it can be tough to withstand up to 6 or 7 Gs throughout a two-hour race.

Daniel Ricciardo has been part of the Formula 1 World Championship for 12 years now, ever since his 2011 British Grand Prix debut. Over the years, he has driven for Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Renault, and of course, Mclaren.

He has been on the start line for 230 GPs and managed to win eight of them. Six of those happened between 2014 and 2018 when he was still under the guidance of Christian Horner. That period represents the highlight of his racing career, as he finished P3 at the end of both 2014 and 2016. Over the past three seasons, he has been on top of the podium only once.

Ricciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 Years
Photo: Mclaren
And this industry isn't very forgiving of those that don't manage to climb to the top. Ricciardo finished the 2020 season in 5th, then fell to eighth in 2021. And now he's currently in P12 with just 35 points in 20 races.

Given his age and results, it's not difficult to understand why he's having a tough time finding a seat in the series for 2023. He's still a brilliant driver, and he provided strong evidence for that in Mexico this weekend. He started the race from P11 and moved on up to P7, despite the 10-second penalty received after the contact with Tsunoda.

On several occasions during the race, it was thrilling to watch him unleash the full potential of the Mclaren MCL36. The penalty just made him go faster, and you could see he was stepping on the gas going through the technical sections of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. In the process, he flew past Bottas and both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon thus bringing some excitement to an otherwise relatively uneventful Grand Prix.

If you need further proof of his commitment to stay in the sport, just look at the fastest laps recorded on Sunday. George Russell was on top of the list after switching to fresh tires at the very end of the race. Sergio Perez was second overall, and Daniel Ricciardo was third. That's right, Ricciardo's fastest lap was better than what Verstappen, Hamilton, and even Sainz could achieve on the last day of the Grand Prix in Mexico City.

Ricciardo Wins Driver of the Day in Mexico, His F1 Future Looks Uncertain After 12 Years
Photo: Mclaren
And he's got two more GPs to enjoy before his F1 career is potentially over. With any luck, he might return to the sport in 2024, just like Kevin Magnussen did this year. There have been rumors of him going over to Mercedes as a reserve driver, and also those who have considered the idea that he could replace Hamilton should the Briton retire by the end of 2023.

But it's not likely that the Silver Arrows will sabotage themselves by signing on a relatively old driver when they've got fierce competition from the young guns at Red Bull Racing. But with each passing year, his chances at securing a World Title are certainly getting dimmer and dimmer.

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About the author: Dragos Chitulescu
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The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S.
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