Emotional Ricciardo could not hide his tears during post-race interview at Singapore
Eight-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo has acknowledged that the Singapore Grand Prix might turn out to be his last race in his successful Formula One career.
Daniel Ricciardo endured a difficult qualifying on Saturday, having failed to make the cut into Q2 while his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda qualified inside the top ten. Starting from P16 on the grid, the Australian opted for the soft compound to start the 62-lap race on.
The aggressive strategy prompted the eight-time F1 race winner to come in early for his first tyre change, but it did not pay out as he finished down in P18. A late second tyre change for a set of softs meant that he set the quickest lap, but he was unable to collect the additional point as he finished outside the top ten.
Reflecting on his day in his VCARB01, the Australian noted: “A tough race. Any time you’re out in Q1, you know you’ve got potentially a long day. I had to try something with strategy, and you never know here with the Safety Car, it could work in your favour.
“Obviously there wasn’t a Safety Car today, so yeah, obviously our strategy then came a little undone, but I think ultimately we just weren’t quick enough.
“At the end we were there, not really in any position, so we tried to go for fastest lap and I guess it helped maybe Max out by Abu Dhabi. Maybe there’s a Christmas present coming if he wins by a point!”
The tough 62-lap race at the Marina Bay circuit came to an emotional end as rumours keep circulating that Ricciardo is bracing for an end to his illustrious Formula 1 career.
During an emotional post-race interview with F1TV, Ricciardo did not deny that the Singapore race might turn out to be his last appearance in an F1 race.
“Possibly, I have to acknowledge that. 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.
“I do feel, let’s say, at peace with it. At some point, it’ll come for all of us. I think also, I tried to get back into Red Bull, it didn’t work out, so then I also have to say, ‘Okay, what else am I ultimately doing here and trying to achieve?’.
“Let’s say maybe the fairytale ending didn’t happen, but I also have to look back on what it’s been. Fourteen or so years and I’m proud.
“I think when you’ve experienced the highs of winning, you can only fight for P10 for so long. There is nothing like that feeling, and if that no longer is possible, and if it is becoming a little harder – that’s the truth: I was able to do some moments of maybe greatness this year, but it was trickier to do it week in, week out. Maybe that’s [being] 35, maybe that’s the competition’s getting better and better. Who knows?”
