Daniel Ricciardo sacked: Australian F1 star dumped by McLaren with Oscar Piastri looming as replacement

Daniel Ricciardo has every right to feel jilted after his sacking by McLaren, an ousting in part engineered by two fellow Australians.

Daniel Ricciardo.

If the inexplicable happens and Daniel Ricciardo does not find a seat for the 2023 Formula 1 season, fans of the affable Aussie — and they number into the millions — will look to two of his compatriots for answers.

The beloved 33-year-old West Australian has almost certainly been ousted by his predecessor and heir-apparent in a series of events that will have the ‘Drive to Survive’ camera crews rubbing their hands together in excitement.

Because if the optics are to be believed Ricciardo’s McLaren exit, which was made official on Thursday morning but had been expected for weeks, was engineered by backroom moves between the team and the management of his would-be replacement, fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri.

The 21-year-old is the sport’s hottest young commodity and his name dominated the Formula 1 consciousness earlier this month when he rebuffed a statement from Alpine declaring the team’s reserve driver would take the seat of the outgoing Fernando Alonso.

Piastri’s manager is of course Mark Webber; the man who flew the Australian flag on the F1 grid before handing his Red Bull seat over to Ricciardo ahead of the 2014 season.

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It was days prior to the Belgian Grand Prix in 2013 that Webber declared Ricciardo would take his place at Red Bull and nine years later, on the eve of the same race, Piastri is poised to take his compatriot’s seat at McLaren – though more with a shove than a smile and handshake.

Word is that Webber, Piastri, Alonso and the Spaniard’s manager Flavio Briatore worked in tandem to engineer dual exits from Alpine that would ultimately land the young Aussie at McLaren — and the timeline suggests it would be an incredible coincidence for that not to be the case.

Australian F1 legend Mark Webber and Oscar Piastri.

Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.

Piastri became a free agent on August 1 – the same day Alonso announced his swap to Aston Martin – which gave the rookie grounds to rebuff Alpine’s move to put him on the F1 grid with them and instead look elsewhere, with eyes firmly fixed on usurping Ricciardo at McLaren.

Put simply, if McLaren does as expected and imminently announces Piastri as the pairing to Lando Norris for 2023, this is a move that was planned months in advance by all parties — and with Ricciardo the fall guy.

That has to be a dagger to the heart of Australian Formula 1 fans who have had so few heroes to celebrate over the journey and now will have the past (Webber), present (Ricciardo) and future (Piastri) embroiled in a bitter feud.

It would take incredible gumption from Ricciardo to forgive the machinations of Webber and Piastri for their hand in pushing him out the door at McLaren with a year to run on his contract.

Daniel Ricciardo is searching for a new F1 team.

Ricciardo is tipped to be replaced at McLaren by fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri.

Oh to be a fly on the wall the next time that trio is in a room together.

Only Ricciardo can answer the question of when he became aware of the Piastri threat to his seat. It will no doubt be among the first questions thrown at him when racing resumes in Belgium on Friday.

There’s no doubt Ricciardo has been under pressure all year due to his own performances but just when a fellow Aussie appeared in his rearview mirror will be a question every motorsport fan will want answered and how much animosity he holds towards Piastri and Webber will be telling.

Formula 1 fans and drivers are well acquainted with this sort of drama.

Ricciardo isn’t the first and won’t be the last driver forced to play musical chairs in this cutthroat industry.

And for those worried that it might be the end of Ricciardo’s time in F1, thankfully that is unlikely.

His payout from McLaren is reportedly $14.5 million, less than what was owed on his 2023 contract, which if paid in full would likely have kept him from signing with another team for next season.

McLaren Racing's US CEO Zak Brown.

That suggests there is a team in the market for him next year.

That and the video posted to social media on Thursday declaring his love of the sport remains and that “this isn’t it for me”, which all points to better-than-not chance that we see him go around again.

A reunion with Alpine is very possible, and Haas has reportedly already made contact with the Aussie’s camp about bringing his talents to the US. Both would be good landing spots.

As one passionate fan and friend put it this morning:

“So long as Daniel is able to find a seat this can only be seen as a good thing for Aussie F1 fans. Two drivers on the grid and Dan hopefully in a team that will suit and support him better.”

That’s the upshot of this month-long back-end-forth.

Ricciardo’s form in the McLaren this year has been a long way removed from the drought-breaking drive at Monza in 2021.

Both driver and manufacturer have admitted to Ricciardo’s struggles in adapting to the car and that anchored part of Thursday morning’s messaging around his exit.

Meanwhile, Piastri gets his long-awaited place on the grid.

The question now turns to how Ricciardo rebounds from this to race for the papaya through to the end of the season, knowing his future is elsewhere.

And if that future is at Alpine, it opens up another intriguing narrative to follow.

Alpine and McLaren currently sit fourth and fifth in the constructor standings, with just four points separating the two.

That jostle for positions could cost the lower-ranked team millions in prize money.

And beyond that, how does this saga impact Piastri’s entry into F1?

Considered one of the top prospects to come out of the lower ranks in years, the 21-year-old has been tapped for greatness and earmarked as one of Australia’s brightest international sports stars of the future.

But getting there by pushing aside a fellow Aussie – one of the sport’s most beloved characters – cannot be the way he wanted his F1 career to begin.