Sacked F1 Driver Linked to a Racing Seat With NASCAR

Former RB Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, whose departure was recently announced after the Singapore Grand Prix, could soon be seen racing in NASCAR according to F1 commentator Alex Jacques.

Ricciardo returned to the premier class of motorsport last year after being without an F1 seat for nearly a year. Given his past Red Bull experience and his wish to retire from the sport with that team, he was offered a seat in Red Bull’s junior team, RB.

While his mid-season entry last year was too short to gauge his racing performance, the 2024 season was a clean slate for him to make his mark and secure a Red Bull seat. However, the Australian struggled through the year with a series of inconsistent performances, often being outperformed by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who holds less Formula 1 experience than him.

Eventually, Red Bull decided to replace him at RB with the team’s reserve driver Liam Lawson. The Australian driver now remains without a seat in Formula 1, and with just one seat available in the sport, it is unlikely that he would find his way back with one of the teams.

This leaves him free to explore opportunities in other racing categories. According to Formula 1 commentator Alex Jacques, given Ricciardo’s strong fanbase in the United States and his love for NASCAR, it wouldn’t be surprising if he made the jump to stock car racing.

Speaking on the Formula For Success podcast with former F1 driver David Coulthard, Jacques said:

“I know he’s got offers aplenty already.

“I think the media work is going to be nailed on for him. I think he’ll be back in a Formula 1 paddock at some point.

“I suspect he’s not going to be able to resist a little bit of NASCAR. He’s a massive NASCAR fan. He really does appreciate it and and love that.

“And I think Netflix would love it if he went from Drive to Survive to… They had a series about NASCAR last year. They would love that transition I think for the viewing numbers, sort of like when you get a soap and you get a character come back from having been away for a couple of years, I think Daniel Ricardo turning up…

“I’m not sure he’s going to do the ovals, but like, they race at Watkins Glen, they race on the streets of Chicago. I think that’s got Danny Ric’s name all over it. So I think he’ll give that a go.

“And then I think he’ll be in close proximity to you [Coulthard] when you’re doing your punditry. I think he’ll be back in the paddock very, very quickly.”

Coulthard added that considering Ricciardo’s huge fan following, he could secure a role in the media where he could do very well. He said:

“He’s certainly leaving the sport in this modern era of Netflix and a much wider social following than the generation before. I guess the world is his lobster, as they would say in Scotland, or oyster, as I suspect they say down south. So there’ll be a lot of opportunities there.

“And it’ll be interesting to see whether he looks to continue within another form of racing, which the risk in that is unless you go in and dominate, which you know, the chances of him doing that are pretty slim, you just become another driver, and you kind of lose the fairy dust of being an ex-Grand Prix driver.

“So I definitely see him being an asset – whether he’d want to be – but he could definitely be an asset from a media point of view.”