Daniel Ricciardo 'contacted' over intriguing switch for 2023
Reports in Australia claim that Daniel Ricciardo has been contacted over a switch to NASCAR for the 2023 season.
The McLaren driver is leaving the team at the end of the current Formula 1 campaign and, as yet, does not have a seat sorted on the grid for next season.
He has reportedly accepted that his fate may lie away from the sport for next year at least, too, though there are still spots available at Haas, Alpine, Williams and potentially AlphaTauri, depending on what happens with Pierre Gasly, for 2023.
If Ricciardo does not end up at one of those teams, though, the sport will, at least for next year, be losing one of its most popular characters but F1’s loss could be NASCAR’s gain if reports from his native Australia are to be believed.
According to the Herald Sun, contact with Ricciardo has been made by Justin Marks, the boss of Trackhouse Racing Project 91, over his availability to drive in the championship next year
Trackhouse recently gave Kimi Raikkonen the opportunity to drive for them at Watkins Glen last month and he did an admirable job, before an incident took him out of the race.
Ricciardo would be far from the first driver to switch from F1 to NASCAR, then, and the Aussie is a big fan of the sport with him running the no.3 on his F1 cars just like his hero, NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt, did.
The report suggests that Ricciardo may be open to the opportunity, too, though the Aussie’s stated intention has been to remain in F1 for next year as the priority.
If that option is not forthcoming, though, he could well be thinking about trying a different discipline for 2023.
It’s a pretty clear demonstration of Ricciardo’s troubles in the last couple of years at McLaren that it now looks a real possibility we could