Daniel Ricciardo is aiming to make a comeback to Formula 1 in 2024, but 2009 Champion Jenson Button is struggling to see him back with a decent team.
Ricciardo lost his seat with McLaren, one year before his contract expires, after two disappointing seasons at Woking where he was constantly beaten by teammate Lando Norris, and by a margin.
Ricciardo has been a shadow of his old confident self recently, and could not find any options for a decent F1 seat in 2023, the only available seats being at Haas (Mick Schumacher’s seat) and Williams should Logan Sargeant fail to acquire his super license.
That has prompted the Australian to announce he will not be on the grid next year, with a target to be back in 2024, even claiming a year off would be a “blessing in disguise“.
However, the 2009 F1 Champion Jenson Button disagrees with Ricciardo’s approach and believes he should secure a drive in 2023 regardless how uncompetitive it may be.
Ricciardo should hang on to any seat available
Button told Sky Sports’ Any Driven Monday: “I guess he didn’t want to drop too far down the grid and work with a team that’s more towards the rear, because it’s difficult for a driver coming from a team that is almost winning races at times to suddenly know you’re fighting for points.
“It is tough. But I still think it would have been a better move for him,” the driver, who won his only Title with Brawn GP in 2009, added.
“Go into a team, work hard, show people what you can do, in a car that maybe suits your car a bit more, and then people forget what happened the year before,” the Briton advised.
“That’s the issue now, people forget how good Ricciardo is because he’s had such a difficult year and a half or two years.
“But he has the talent, and in a car that suits him, he would show his skill and then he has the opportunity to race in a top team again. But sitting out? People just remember what happened last year.
A decent drive might not be possible in 2024
“It’s a tricky one and I really struggle to see him coming back to a competitive team after having a year out,” Button concluded.
Speaking of his future plans, Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1:”I’m certainly talking to teams, but I still want to obviously keep a foot in the door. As I said, for 2024.
“I’m sure seeing the lights go out in race one, I’ll already have that itch so I will want to be back in 2024,” the Honey Badger admitted.
Ricciardo gave a glimpse of hope at the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix with a fine drive, despite a clumsy incident with Yuki Tsunoda for which he received a ten-second time penalty.
He was able to buildup a gap of more than ten seconds from the driver behind – Esteban Ocon – and keep his seventh-place finish.