Daniel Ricciardo slammed for “moment of stupidity” which ruined his F1 career

F1 legend Juan Pablo Montoya has pinpointed a “moment of stupidity” which ruined Daniel Ricciardo’s career.

Ricciardo returned to F1 midway through 2023 in place of Nyck de Vries.

It was theorised that if Ricciardo impressed at AlphaTauri, he’d be promoted back to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.

Ricciardo’s return was cut short after a crash in practice at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Australian injured his hand and missed the subsequent races.

This allowed Liam Lawson to make his unexpected F1 debut.

Lawson impressed during his short stint but could not land a full-time seat for 2024.

Ricciardo’s performances were mostly unimpressive, and he was replaced after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.

Since then, Lawson has driven for Red Bull but got dropped after just two races.

Montoya believes Ricciardo’s injury inadvertently led to the end of his F1 career.

“It was precisely for that reason that Lawson started. Think about it, a moment of stupidity of that magnitude defined Ricciardo’s career and opened the door to Lawson,” Montoya told the MontoyAS Podcast.

“If Ricciardo didn’t break his hand, Lawson wouldn’t have jumped on the bandwagon.

“It went very well for him, that’s why they gave him the seat.”

Ricciardo not interested in Cadillac return

Ricciardo returning to the F1 grid in 2026 doesn’t appear to be on the cards.

Despite Cadillac joining the grid as F1’s 11th team next year, Ricciardo isn’t in the frame.

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas have been heavily linked with the team.

Cadillac boss Graeme Lowdon has expressed that he wants one driver to be experienced.

Ricciardo is popular in the United States – but isn’t keen on a return to the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Yeah, actually, I think he’s publicly said that he’s not interested in Formula 1,” Lowdon said on the High Performance podcast.

“It’s not my job [to convince him]. If I need to convince someone, then it’s the wrong person. You never need to convince a Formula 1 driver to jump in the car.”