Blow by blow report on Ricciardo's final hours as a F1 driver
F1 NewsWednesday, 25 September 2024 at 10:00
Formula 1's Paparazzo Prince, Kym Illman, shed insight into the final hours of what is believed to be Daniel Ricciardo's final Grand Prix, the popular vlogger documenting the Australian's post-race tear-laden and emotional scenes in Singapore.
Illman has an inside line to drivers and their partners, reportedly having most of them on speed dial thanks to his constant presence at GPs, his unique coverage, and his high-end photography. Also an Aussie, he got the inside line on Ricciardo's post-race reaction.
For several months, speculation has been rife in the F1 paddock that underperforming Ricciardo would be replaced by Red Bull at VCARB. Liam Lawson is the driver next up in the organisation's pool of talent. He already has five GP starts to his name (standing in for Ricciardo when he broke his hand at Zandvoort last year) and gave a superb account of himself along the way.
In Singapore, things got worse for Ricciardo. After failing to make it out of Q1 in qualifying on Saturday, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda put his handy VCARB P8 on the grid, Ricciardo redeemed himself in the race by claiming the fastest lap point, which denied the dominant McLaren team a point in their battle against championship leaders.
But VCARB team boss Laurent Mekies inadvertently, or not, explained that Ricciardo was given the shot at the point on offer as it might be his last GP.
The 'Dan's Last Race' story went viral and was the talk of the paddock. But the question remained unanswered, and indeed, as this is written, there is still no clarity:
Was the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix Ricciardo's final F1 race?
On hand in the Marina Bay paddock documenting where few media dare go, Illman reported on his YouTube channel: "At 1:46 am on September 23, Daniel Ricciardo exited the F1 paddock for the last time as an F1 driver.
"The whole night was something bizarre and heartbreaking: F1 'farewelling' a driver who has not yet been announced as officially leaving speculation. Daniel was in no doubt of his future, and neither was the rest of the paddock, and there were plenty of tears.
"People knew that he was leaving the sport. They wanted to reward him with that. After the race, he sat in his car for some time, soaking up what he knew was his last race. And it's worth noting too that Daniel set the fastest lap.
"Why? Well, because Christian Horner asked him to do it for Max, for Verstappen's sake, and Max is a good friend of Daniels. He said yes, and that denied Lando Norris the opportunity to score one extra point, which would have made it a little bit easier, perhaps, for Lando to catch Max in the World Drivers Championship.
"Ricciardo then headed down to the TV media pen with no shirt on, just his cooling vest, and I can tell you, it was stinking hot, and that was probably all he needed. He then stayed for probably one of the longest sessions I've ever encountered with the driver in the media pen."
Illman: He talked to every single person that wanted to speak to him
The F1 vlogger described lengthy chats between Dan and reporters: "Sometimes for 15 minutes. He was happy and smiley for most of those interviews, but that's his nature. But in some interviews, he was close to tears.
"Next up, I was off to Sky UK for a chat with their crew. And among other things, he acknowledged that leaving the sport happens to all of us, and maybe that at 35 with the competition getting better, he was just not cutting it.
"He did say it was exhausting, but he was grateful for the opportunity to get into Formula 1; it was his dream, having the chance to fight for wins. He said he didn't want to look back and be negative.
"Dan then walked back to the hospitality suite, and there was a driver's guard of honour on either side of the walkway up to the hospitality suite, and they all clapped him as he came in.
"He was fist-bumping and high-fiving people, and then he was behind closed doors for quite some time," recalled Illman, who went on to report on drivers checking in on Ricciardo before departing Marina Bay before they returned to their hotels.
Maybe Ricciardo had a late flight?
Illman continued: "Just after midnight, Lando Norris came down to see Daniel. They caught up behind closed doors in the back of the VCARB garage. About 10 minutes later, I reckon Lando came out, left the paddock at that point, which left Daniel as the only driver, as far as I could tell, still left in the paddock. And this is getting quite late.
"Yuki went into the garage. Laurent Mekies went into the garage. They both came out, and then eventually Daniel, too emerged with his manager, Blake, and went back into the hospitality suite. More hugs, more tears. And then it was upstairs for a time, and a goodly long time, and at that point I got the feeling that Daniel just didn't want to leave.
"Maybe he had a late flight, I can't tell you exactly, but it was a bizarre thing to witness what was going on. To a lovely fella when he finally came down, he popped out to the kitchen to say thank you to the crew out there, and then walked out to where we were standing," concluded Illman on Ricciardo's Singapore swansong.
Should the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix indeed be the 35-year-old's final F1 race, it would be his 257th in the top flight. Ricciardo's F1 stats show he has 32 GP podium finishes, eight times as a winner. He started from pole three times and scored 1329 points.
He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix backed by Red Bull with HRT. Since then Ricciardo has had stints two stints with Toro Rosso (now VCARB), followed by his most successful spell at Red Bull before an ill-advised move to Renault and the sad time at McLaren.
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