{"id":28491,"date":"2024-12-13T06:14:10","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T11:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=28491"},"modified":"2024-12-13T07:30:59","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T12:30:59","slug":"daniel-ricciardo-is-a-2026-f1-return-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/13\/daniel-ricciardo-is-a-2026-f1-return-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Ricciardo: Is a 2026 F1 return possible?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite his abrupt F1 exit in Singapore, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/08\/15\/f1-news-ricciardo-provides-tsunoda-insight\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Daniel Ricciardo<\/a> still commands sway in the driver market. With reports circulating about Cadillac F1&#8217;s interest in his Ricciardo&#8217;s chances of a comeback are far from over.<\/p>\n<h2>Ricciardo would tick several boxes for Cadillac F1<\/h2>\n<p>As reported previously by LWOS, Cadillac want certain characteristics for their 2026 driver line-up.<\/p>\n<p>One of their main considerations, as revealed by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/02\/mario-andretti-fia-open-to-inviting-a-12th-team-to-f1\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Mario Andretti<\/a>, will be to sign an American driver to the team. This makes Colton Herta an obvious option.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside this, Cadillac are looking for an experienced F1 driver.<\/p>\n<p>For a team making their debut, having a driver with a strong understanding of F1&#8217;s intricacies can only be a positive.<\/p>\n<p>In this sense, Daniel Ricciardo would be a perfect fit for Cadillac.<\/p>\n<p>Although Red Bull eventually replaced the Australian with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/07\/liam-lawson-set-to-replace-sergio-perez-at-red-bull\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Liam Lawson<\/a> in Singapore, it would be unfair to say Ricciardo didn&#8217;t have highlights in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>If anything, Ricciardo probably suffered from people underestimating the abilities of his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, Cadillac can be confident about the 35-year-old&#8217;s ability to contribute.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bild.de\/sport\/mehr-sport\/formel-1-netflix-star-vor-comeback-grosse-ueberraschung-675165404984331adee0c7ff\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">premature to describe Ricciardo as a favourite<\/a> to join the US outfit, he should not be written off.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"8e__jXAsRIZnGm1YUb5bwA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2171340276\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'8e__jXAsRIZnGm1YUb5bwA',sig:'JH-nq4urfw4Ekx_JVxGKPp_ScGJIksGAdnZN-7b6enc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2171340276',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/01\/zhou-guanyu-an-early-candidate-to-join-cadillac-f1\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Zhou Gaunyu an early candidate to join Cadillac F1<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>The ball is in Ricciardo&#8217;s court<\/h4>\n<p>Of course, there is still a long way to go before General Motors\/Cadillac decide their 2026 pairing.<\/p>\n<p>By the time F1&#8217;s &#8220;silly season&#8221; kicks into gear in 2025, Ricciardo may not be a priority target.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, it seems unlikely the 8-time race winner will be completely without options &#8211; should he be interested in returning to F1.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, this is as the crux of Ricciardo&#8217;s future. On several occasions since joining VCARB in 2023, he emphasised that racing at the front was his goal.<\/p>\n<p>Joining the Faenza-based team was a platform for an audition to join Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"W2kZM74_Q5BBgnBllowKBQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/458299146\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'W2kZM74_Q5BBgnBllowKBQ',sig:'Mjk0wDgiLLL3TaBna5TMv6m9tZzxHZ5rNpPMcQayOB0=',w:'594px',h:'385px',items:'458299146',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Considering that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/23\/f1-news-cadillac-to-join-the-grid-in-2026-with-ferrari-engines\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Cadillac<\/a> would be underdogs in their first few seasons, joining them would be a very different project.<\/p>\n<p>A move to the US squad would require leading the team through an increasingly competitive field.<\/p>\n<p>For all their investment and ambition, reaching the height of Formula 1 will be a tall order for GM\/Cadillac.<\/p>\n<p>In this context, Ricciardo might lack the motivation to join a team unlikely to challenge at the front.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian has made no indication of his future plans since <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/04\/daniel-ricciardo-wants-to-earn-seat-alongside-verstappen\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">departing from VCARB<\/a>. This is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p>Only when the 2025 season begins will Ricciardo&#8217;s influence in the market become clearer.<\/p>\n<p>As it stands, a scenario where Daniel Ricciardo returning to the grid is far away.<\/p>\n<p>However, the volatile nature of Formula 1 suggests it would be unwise to dismiss his chances over the next twelve months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite his abrupt F1 exit in Singapore, Daniel Ricciardo still commands sway in the driver market. With reports circulating about Cadillac F1&#8217;s interest in his Ricciardo&#8217;s chances of a comeback are far from over. Ricciardo would tick several boxes for Cadillac F1 As reported previously by LWOS, Cadillac want certain characteristics for their 2026 driver [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2220,465,495,722],"class_list":["post-28491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-f1-news","tag-general-motors","tag-ricciardo"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28516,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28491\/revisions\/28516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}