It’s official, Daniel Ricciardo has to leave Formula 1 with immediate effect.

A year ago he tried to heal his broken hand as quickly as possible and eventually secure a place at Red Bull. The form that Sergio Perez has shown for most of this season opened the door for Ricciardo to move, but he was unable to take advantage of the opportunity.

Four points finishes, including only three in the Grand Prix, and the fact that his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was well above the points total – and regularly failed to qualify – meant he was not convincing enough to pass Perez’s lead over the summer break. position to move up.

And as soon as he failed to do that, the writing was on the wall.

Liam Lawson had made him impossible to ignore with his short-term performances as Ricciardo’s replacement last year and Tsunoda got the job done early on. The consistency and spark never quite returned for Ricciardo and it is entirely understandable that Red Bull decided it was time to explore whether Lawson could be a future driver for the main team. What is less understandable, however, is the way in which this was done.

A veteran of 257 race starts, eight wins (seven with Red Bull) and 32 podiums, Ricciardo has a pedigree that shows why he was given the chance to secure another shot at a race-winning machine. The fact that he also took on a reserve role at Red Bull and was ready to prove himself at RB shows what this environment meant to him.

But over the course of four days in Singapore, his demeanor changed from saying he expected a decision in 2025 and would sit out the rest of this season to fearing he had driven an F1 car for the last time.

“The decision I expect will be made next year,” Ricciardo said a week ago. “Obviously crazy things have happened in this sport. I’m also not going to stand here all boastful and confident and say, “Oh yeah, yeah.” I think it will be me, but we’ll see.

On Sunday evening, an emotional Ricciardo all but confirmed he had been eliminated.

“I tried to enjoy it, of course,” he said after getting out of the car. “A bit like the end of 2022 at McLaren – of course I knew that might be my last race, so I tried to enjoy it.

“I think I also realized why I came back to the sport – sometimes you see the bigger picture and I’ve always said I don’t want to be a guy who’s just here on the grid and every now and then for a point fights That’s kind of how it went this year.

“Obviously the goal this year was to try to do well enough to get back into Red Bull and fight for wins again to see if I could still do it. I felt like I was falling short with that, so I’m like, ‘Okay, what else am I fighting for here?’ What else gives me fulfillment?’

“I’m also a young driver and at some point I don’t just want to take up space. Of course you have to be selfish, but if I’m not able to fight with Red Bull at the front, I have to ask myself: why am I staying on the grid? I’ve come to terms with that too.”

But what was so strange was that Red Bull and RB had not yet confirmed Ricciardo’s departure at the time and he apparently only realized how likely it was as the weekend progressed. There was no way to plan anything, say goodbye properly, and have a race where he and everyone else knew for certain that it would be his last time behind the wheel.

Ricciardo deserved better.

Red Bull’s exit in 2018 may still haunt him, but Ricciardo’s subsequent time at Renault was still strong. However, it is his results since leaving Renault that make it very difficult to argue that he still deserves his place on the grid ahead of someone like Lawson.

And replacing him mid-season is also understandable. If you have the replacement ready, under contract, available, and going to use him next season anyway, then why not start?

But Ricciardo deserved a dignified farewell. A chance to fully enjoy the moment at the end of an impressive career. He is a driver who has contributed so much to the popularity of the sport and Red Bull within it, and at his best he was electrifying. The least he should have been given was the opportunity to make an announcement before his final race and step clearly out of the cockpit one last time.

This also impacted Lawson, who was not able to enjoy the promotion to the same extent. Rumors circulating that led to criticism of Red Bull – and fans upset at the prospect of losing one of the most popular drivers on the grid – eventually led to there being no room to promote another to actually celebrate exciting young talent, probably because given that background it might seem distasteful.

If this is indeed the end of the F1 path for Ricciardo, then on his own terms he could have at least easily given up. Instead there was a short Instagram message:

“I have loved this sport my whole life. It’s wild and wonderful and it’s been a journey.

“Many thanks to the teams and individuals who played their part. To the fans who sometimes love the sport more than me, haha, thank you. It will always have its ups and downs but it was fun and to be honest I wouldn’t change it.

“Until the next adventure.”

What the next adventure will be remains to be seen, but it’s a real shame that the last race failed without so many of its fans really knowing.