Daniel Ricciardo explains his happiness and contentment to not be racing in 2023

Daniel Ricciardo is actually glad that no opportunity to race with a top team in Formula 1 2023 came about, as then he would have had to take it.

As Ricciardo endured a second poor campaign with McLaren in 2022, the team decided to terminate the Aussie's contract a year before it expires, with Oscar Piastri brought in as his replacement.

We will, though, still see Ricciardo here and there in F1 this year, as he has signed a deal to serve as the third driver for Red Bull as he returns to the Austrian outfit.

Red Bull had not offered Ricciardo a race seat, the same true for F1's other big hitters, Mercedes and Ferrari, but he is happy about that.

Taking a break

After the McLaren struggles, Ricciardo was clear in his mind that he wanted to take a break from being on the grid in 2023, but if one of these top teams had reached out, he would have felt obliged to say yes when his head was not in it.

Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Ricciardo said: "There was a couple of times where [Ferrari] was linked. But, I think coming back to a seat next year [2023], as Guenther [Steiner, Haas team principal] said, he reached out.

"The more days that passed and, especially as I did the triple-header to get back into the second half of the season - so three days on the bounce - it became more and more clear that it wasn't about what phone call I was receiving. It was about me acknowledging that I just ultimately don't want to be competing next year.

"So, in a way, I am glad that, let's say, a top team didn't reach out because it's one of those ones where you probably feel, 'Oh, I've got to sign it', but I think deep down I was just craving a bit of distance."

Out of the firing line

Ricciardo acknowledges that his route is not one that all