Daniel Ricciardo has reflected on the abrupt end to his Formula 1 career two years on.

Ricciardo made his final appearance in F1 at the Singapore Grand Prix on 22 September 2024. While RB didn’t confirm his departure until after the weekend had concluded, there was a sense of inevitability in the paddock.

It was an open secret that Liam Lawson was going to take his seat for the final six races of the season, and Ricciardo subsequently decided to retire from racing, rather than attempt another comeback.

Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t ‘stand up anymore’ when Liam Lawson replaced him

Speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Ricciardo admitted that he had to hide the ‘humiliation’ he felt at the time. He wanted the F1 world to think he was ‘fine’.

Ricciardo had won eight Grands Prix and competed in over 250 races, and yet he was unceremoniously forced out during the season.

He said: “The first phase, straight after Singapore, it was [about] trying to stay tall and strong, if you will, [finding] a coping mechanism or defence mechanism, trying to outwardly project that ‘I’m fine and it’s all good’ and ultimately hiding from a feeling of humiliation.

“That was the first phase of thinking everything was okay, but obviously I was very hurt inside.”

Ricciardo added that he lost the motivation to fight for his place, with the bosses at Red Bull determined to prioritise their next academy graduate.

“By that point, I was done,” he said. “I was done getting knocked down and getting beat up. I was just like, ‘I don’t think I can stand up anymore.’ We’ll let the bell ring and we’ll let the opponent win.”

McLaren paid Ricciardo off at the end of the 2022 season, ending his contract one year early so they could sign Oscar Piastri.

That threatened to be the end of his F1 career, but Red Bull gave him a lifeline when Nyck de Vries was struggling at RB forerunners AlphaTauri. Ricciardo impressed in a test at Silverstone and returned to the cockpit halfway through 2023, though his comeback was interrupted by a hand injury.

Ricciardo was trailing Yuki Tsunoda 12-6 in qualifying before he lost his seat in 2024. They were closer in the races, but the Japanese driver still delivered more points (22 vs 12).

Indeed, the Australian only finished in the top 10 three times all year. Given that he was failing to meet expectations, and therefore wasn’t a viable contender to partner Max Verstappen again, Red Bull couldn’t justify keeping a 35-year-old driver at their de facto junior team.