Daniel Ricciardo finally speaks on ‘weird' retirement from Formula 1
The eight-time grand prix winner was dropped by Red Bull last September to make room for New Zealander Liam Lawson at their second team Racing Bulls.
It was an unceremonious end to his second chance after his career looked over when McLaren paid him out to clear the path for Aussie young gun Oscar Piastri's 2023 debut.
Ricciardo's hopes were revived by Red Bull but he missed out on his desired return to the top team alongside Max Verstappen, and is now adamant there will be no third coming.
He attended a karting round at Buckmore Park in England to watch his proteges race in the Daniel Ricciardo Series over the weekend.
Asked how he is doing, he simply said: 'All good!'
'I'm just enjoying some life in the slow lane,' Ricciardo added.
'I mean, it sounds weird saying like retirement when I'm 35 years old, but retirement from at least the world I was living in. It's cool.'
Ricciardo celebrated his 36th birthday on Tuesday with a day out at Wimbledon alongside his parents Grace and Joe.
His emphatic statement on being retired from F1 comes after he faded from view in discussions around who F1's newest team Cadillac should sign for their inaugural season next year.
The US outfit has still yet to sign anyone but the likes of honorary Aussie Valtteri Bottas, axed former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and Ferrari reserve driver Zhou Guanyu appear to be in the mix, as well as former F1 driver turned endurance star Mick Schumacher.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, has almost entirely detached himself from the sport.
He was recently pictured playing padel with Aussie F1 star Oscar Piastri, his friend and Aussie snowboard great Scotty James and Mercedes driver George Russell.
But he has not attended an F1 race.
He was in Melbourne to launch a pop-up shop for his brand ahead of the Australian Grand Prix but never stepped foot in the paddock.
His likeness also appeared to be used in an F1 advertisement earlier this year but nothing came of fan theories that it was a sign.
The West Australian said attending the karting races nearly one year on from his final grand prix was a timely reminder.
'To be at the kart track... it's my first time at a race track since I guess Singapore, so quite a few months now. But it's cool to see the kids — this is why I started karting,' he said.
'I've had photos with groups of the kids and I can tell the friendships they have, and these friendships will last a lifetime a lot of them.
'My best friend to this day was a friend that I raced karts with. It's nice to be back at like the grassroots of it and the most pure form of racing.
'I think now that I'm a bit removed from it and life is not as chaotic, it's nice to remember what it was like to be at the start of the career.
'We all have idols and heroes — I would be very nervous meeting someone who I admired, so I understand sometimes it's a bit overwhelming.
'But everyone seems pretty cool. I guess maybe I'm not the only driver they've met before — there's a lot of F1 fans here!
'I think just to have someone that you want to try and obviously look up to and someone that can inspire you, if I'm able to sprinkle a tiny bit of inspiration or motivation today by being here and having a chat to a few kids, that's awesome.
'That's something I know I appreciated when I was eight, nine, 10 years old.'
Ricciardo said he continues to preach what he was taught as a youngster — have fun and enjoy racing with your friends.
'Racing is scary, you know? I think it helped me at school have a bit more confidence,' he said.
'Everyone's shy, we all go through things growing up, so I think it kind of gave me confidence in myself as a person, also away from the track. So that's something I took from it.'
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