Due to numerous driver exits, Daniel Ricciardo has been mentioned as a candidate for the vacant reserve driver position at Mercedes in 2023. He has just two races left to compete as a McLaren driver, so his career in F1 may be approaching an unofficial conclusion.
It has been established that he will take a year off in 2023, but it seems more and more probable that he might drive as Mercedes’ reserve driver for the upcoming season.
Since current reserve drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries have accepted positions elsewhere, the Silver Arrows do need to fill at least one reserve position. In contrast to Vandoorne, who is moving to Aston Martin to work as their reserve and test driver, De Vries will be competing exclusively at AlphaTauri for the next season.
Toto Wolff, the team principal of the Mercedes Team, is well known for being a supporter of Daniel Ricciardo, which may be advantageous for the former Red Bull star, particularly because the Austrian may be able to help the Australian driver secure a proper place in F1 for the 2024 season.
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In a guest appearance on the podcast ‘Your Mom’s House,’ Ricciardo reiterated that he won’t be competing next season but is aiming to return in 2024. He said: “I’m not gonna race next year, I’m not gonna race F1.”
“My eyes are certainly still set on F1 but with everything that’s gone on, I need the time off. I think the way the contracts and everything shapes up, I think 2024 is potentially smarter as well for me to set my eyes on that and then get the time off to just reset and rebuild.”
Mercedes may be hesitant to sign the 33-year-old now that the podcast has been made public due to some truly repulsive discussions that were on the ‘comedy’ program and given that the hosts Christina Pazsitzky and Tom Segura are from Texas, it can be speculated that the podcast was recorded before or after the US Grand Prix.
The hosts made a series of sexist and misogynistic remarks about women from Eastern Europe in response to one inquiry about what country’s women “go the craziest.” Ricciardo joined the hosts in laughing off the jokes, which was a rather disappointing response from the driver who has recently gained a lot of fans.
The Australian did attempt to change the subject after acting as though he had a phone call and becoming visibly uncomfortable.
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A segment of the podcast where the hosts say that Formula 1 drivers will get “top knot s**t” has been shared on social media by some users, and hundreds of people have expressed their disgust at the discussion and at Ricciardo for laughing at it.
One person said: “Glad to know that I’m an Eastern European woman is a whore according to the hosts of ‘Your Mom’s House’ podcast, and nice to know that Daniel Ricciardo thinks that sexist jokes are okay and funny.”
In response to the aforementioned clip, for which Ricciardo has gotten hundreds of comments from disappointed and upset ladies, he has yet to issue an apology.
