Haas boss: “If Daniel Ricciardo feels like it, he will call…”
The final year of Ricciardo’s contract with McLaren has been terminated so he will leave at the end of a disappointing 2022 and is now considering how to remain in the 2023 driver line-up with only a few spots available.
Haas have a vacant seat due to their unwillingness to commit to Mick Schumacher beyond the end of his contract, which expires at the end of this season.
"In his situation, Daniel first has to decide for himself what he does,” Haas team principal Steiner told RTL.
“It makes little sense to persuade him to do something, he has to decide for himself.
“If he feels like it, he will certainly call, otherwise he will probably say, ‘I'll do a sabbatical or something else’."
Haas, Alpine, Williams and Alfa Romeo have the only current vacant seats for the F1 2023 season.
Daniel Ricciardo delivered an update on his future to the Fitzy and Wippa radio show in Australia: “When I say I don’t know, I don’t have a contract yet for next year.
“Could it still happen? It could. I guess I’m not getting too caught up in next year. Of course I want to race, I want to be on the grid, I want to be competing.
“But I’m not kind of seeing next year as all or nothing. Obviously 2024 is something I want to be aware of and look at.
“So that’s kind of where I’m like, if it means taking a step back to then take two steps forward, then that’s what we’re trying to figure out at the moment, me and my team. So that could be a year off.”
Ricciardo explained that a one-year sabbatical would be to enable him to “get back on the grid for 2024”.
What next for Mick Schumacher?
The son of Michael Schumacher was criticised earlier this season by Steiner for crashing too often and has a “50-50” chance of staying with Haas next year, his boss says.
Steiner told RTL he will not put a time limit on making a decision: "You put yourself under pressure and we don't need that, we only play against ourselves. We don't really have any time pressure, all the others have the time pressure, but we don't, that's an advantage we don't take away from ourselves."
Steiner admitted Nico Hulkenberg was an option: "A man like Nico brings experience.
"What can a driver do to make the team better and bring us to the top?
"How much risk do you want to take? With a young driver, you usually take more risks because you don't know how far he can go.
"You can't calculate that mathematically."
