Daniel Ricardo said goodbye to F1, not a clumsy in Singapore.

There was no way to end Daniel Ricardo’s Formula 1 career.

Instead of the gridiron, he remained in limbo, unofficially his final grant to deal with a big promotion in Singapore last Sunday, but there was no decision to close or return to Austin next month.

With Red Bull confirming his departure and waiting for his final farewell in the F1 paddock, this concludes the decision for driver Schroedwijder: Ricciardo is gone, but not yet. Riccardo’s emotions on Sunday have clearly indicated what should happen.

However, he was properly deprived of the opportunity to say goodbye to F1. All of this was done with an asterisk: During a media session in Singapore on Thursday, Ricciardo speculated that he might be replaced by Red Bull’s spare pilot Liam Lawson from the next race.

But he seemed more worried about 2025 than the rest of the season.He didn’t seem to seriously consider this to be his last F1 race. On Saturday, as Ricciardo was eliminated in Q1 to start 16th on the grid and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda advanced to Q3, his tone and body language suggested a change had occurred.

What was a possibility is now a fact. He tried hard to enjoy every moment of Sunday, knowing that this may be his last race in F1. He took a little extra time to sit in the car before setting off after the chequered flag. It had been his home for more than a decade.

“The cockpit is something I’ve gotten used to over the years,” an emotional Ricciardo said after the race, fighting back tears in an interview with F1 TV. “I just wanted to enjoy the moment.” Ricardo may no longer be the same driver of the Grand Prix in Red Bull. He exploded on the stage in 2014, immediately covered a man who created magic on the street of Monaco in the four world champions at the time, or for a painful defeat two years ago.

Red was there. Or who challenged Max Verstappen, now recognised as an F1 great, back when they were teammates. But he deserved so much better than this prolonged and awkward outing that eventually dragged on to a situation where there was no winner.

Even though Ricciardo spoke like a man who had last raced in F1 on Sunday, the official line from Red Bull and RB was that no decision had been made. The only mention of a possible driver change came in RB’s post-race press release, where, in explaining the decision to pit Ricciardo late in the race to offer him a short lap, race director Laurent Mekies said “This could be Daniel’s final race.

“Red Bull F1 chief Christian Horner said on Sunday that the break before Austin was an opportunity to assess the performance of both Red Bull team’s drivers, and that Ricciardo was “only one part of the puzzle.”