Daniel Ricciardo has given one of his most painful interviews as his torrid year at McLaren continues.
Ricciardo limped home in 16th place, ahead only of Nicholas Latifi who has also lost his race seat for 2023. Teammate Lando Norris finished a strong sixth.
Ricciardo seemingly avoided all the major incidents and didn’t appear to have any other car troubles that might have explained his poor showing – arguably his worst of the season.
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After the race, Ricciardo looked on the verge of tears as he struggled to put into words his 2022 struggles.
“I have no idea what to say. Honestly, it’s 2022 … it’s been the year that it’s been,” he said.
“(I’m) just so far off the pace that … I simply can’t. Can’t lean on, can’t push, can’t get the time out of it.
“Also the consistency with the lap times, it shows that it really is a struggle, but to have such a big margin again, it remains a mystery.”
Starting 15th, Ricciardo made up two places on the first lap through incidents in front of him. He was passed by Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu on successive laps before pitting on lap 10.
He emerged in 18th – ahead of only Latifi – where he would effectively stay until the second round of stops.
In fact after his second stop, Ricciardo ran plum last until he overtook Latifi with three laps to go.
Ricciardo said while he loved the US Grand Prix, he was glad to see the back of it.
“I love Texas, I love Austin, but that race itself for me was not enjoyable,” he said.
“When you think it can’t get worse, it does. I don’t know I don’t know how I’m continuing to continue because painful is an understatement.”
He has three races left with McLaren, before he’s tipped to re-join Red Bull next year as a reserve driver.
Former driver Jenson Button, now a Sky Sports F1 pundit, said he was “sad” seeing the Australian running around the back of the field, but insisted Ricciardo hadn’t checked out.
“Daniel will always want to fight, but it’s just not working for him at the moment,” he said.
Button said he didn’t like the idea of Ricciardo taking on a reserve role, and would prefer to see him take a lesser drive – like Haas – where he could potentially prove himself again.
“I’d rather he was racing in Formula 1 and in a team that’s further down the grid, then he can prove himself again in the car, and maybe get a drive further up the grid,” he said.
“But as the third driver, people will just remember his last race this year.”
The F1 circus next heads to Mexico City and Sao Paulo in Brazil, before the season wraps up in Abu Dhabi.
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