His long-rumoured departure after the 2022 season was confirmed ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix - he had beeꦛn contracted for next season too, but an agreement was found to end the deal early.

Alpine and Haas have been linked with adding Ricciardo to their 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:2023 driver line-up but the veteran , w൩hen a༺sked if he could take “a sabbatical”, said: "If it made sense, then yes. 

“It's the on🍬ly racing that I am interested in but as I said if the stars do👍n't align and it doesn't make the perfect sense, then I am willing to.

"I ℱstill love this sport. I still love it and I still want to do it in the right place. If I am here, I want to be here for a purpose so I don't know what that means for the future but if that's the right opportunity, then I want to be there."

McLaren reportedly told Ricciardo of their intention to pay him off𒈔, and replace him🍌 with Oscar Piastri for 2023.

Ricciardo emotionally explained his disappointment: "It's not the result we wanted in terms of when I joined the team - this wasn't desired. We just didn't ge☂t it right. 

“We put in a lot of effort and tried to get through it, understand the car etc. There was just too many weekends that were a bit of a♏ str﷽uggle. That's how it came about. 

"It's not the nicest feeling but I can hold my head high in 🐲trying to make it work. You have to accept you tried and it didn't work out. It's just one of those things. I am proud of how we tried to ꦛmake it happen."

The split between Ricciardo and McLaren has been reported for weeks and, although it was finalised this week, the 💙driver has explained how it happened.

"It wasn't a random꧋ call one day. We've been talking for the last few months and it wasn't alwꦅays 'top five this race or you're done' but what we can do as a collective to make this work. 

“There was a lot of dialogue but also I knew it was a point of concern because the🦩 results I was getting wasn't up to the level we all thought. We talked for months about how to rectify the issues.”

He said a🦹bout Piastri, his fellow Australian, and Piastri’s manager Mark Webber: "I honestly still don't know what the future holds for Oscar. It's just busin🍰ess. 

“Mark is doing his job for 𝓰O♐scar. I don't take any of that personally. I will be supporting a fellow Aussie."

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He added: "I think, like picking myself up, is something that I feel I am capable of doing. This is a big moment in time for my caree𒀰r but you're always g🧸oing through challenges. You always have to pick yourself up. No one has a perfect career so I've learnt to deal with it.

"That fire, that belief is still in me.

"A lot of hugs and there's a lot of people want me to do well at McLaren. There's no better feeling thaꦜn sucꦅcess in this sport so I know if I apply myself, we can find a way to do it."