Daniel Ricciardo receives first confirmed job offer with ‘open arms’ proposal
Less than two weeks after Daniel Ricciardo’s VCARB exit, the Aussie already has one job offer with Supercars chief executive Shane Howard set to reach out to his management. Ricciardo’s time on the Formula 1 grid came to an abrupt end last month when VCARB announced that the Singapore Grand Prix had been his last race with the team.
Supercars would welcome Daniel Ricciardo ‘with open arms’
The Red Bull junior team will instead field Liam Lawson alongside Yuki Tsunoda in the final six races of the season, starting with the United States Grand Prix, in what’s being billed as an audition for an F1 2025 race seat.
The decision effectively ends Ricciardo’s career despite Red Bull team boss Christian Horner hinting that if Sergio Perez or Lawson don’t get the job done, “we know what Daniel’s capability is”.
But while Red Bull are keen to keep him on in some capacity – PlanetF1.com understands he has been offered the opportunity to remain a part of their driver pool – no other teams have shown an interest, nor is Ricciardo believed to be in the running for the only available seat for next year at Audi. The F1 door may be shut for the Honey Badger, but he already has one offer with Supercars keen on bringing him back home to Australia.
“I think everyone would welcome Daniel with open arms, absolutely,” Supercars chief Howard told News Corp. “Would we like to see Daniel Ricciardo in a Supercar? 100 per cent. “Just imagine if he could be in one of our cars and race in a new street race in Perth, that would be something special wouldn’t it? “It would be absolutely massive. He is such an incredible driver and such an incredible personality and people just absolutely love him. “Imagine him racing at Bathurst, wow. That would be very cool indeed.”
Howard intends to have the conversation with Ricciardo’s management team. Examining Daniel Ricciardo’s options for the future. “At an appropriate time we would reach out to Daniel and his management,” he continued. “Obviously he has got a lot going on and we respect that. “Blake Friend in his management team used to work for us (at Supercars). At the right time, we would reach out, but we would certainly like to have him in one of our cars, 100 per cent we would.”
But whether Ricciardo will be interested is another story as he told the media in Singapore that he’s concerned that having been a Formula 1 driver, racing anywhere else would be lacking. “No disrespect to other series — I’m a fan of NASCAR and a lot of other forms of motorsport — but because I’ve been there and experienced the highest of highs, will I get true fulfillment doing something else?” he said. “No guarantee I’ll be awesome doing something else. Is that actually going to scratch the itch and give me what I want? I don’t know.” “I’d probably say more no than yes,” he said to joining a different series.