"You can’t get results as a third driver" - Daniel Ricciardo 'smiling' about probable reserve driver role has 'surprised' former F1 driver

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer is slightly perplexed with Daniel Ricciardo's decision of negotiating the role of a reserve driver for the 2023 F1 season. The former Renault driver was on The F1 Nations Podcast, where he did sound a bit perplexed at Daniel Ricciardo's approach to his F1 career. He said,

“I’m surprised he’s smiling all that much about that, to be honest. Given that Daniel Ricciardo is the guy that is there racing in the way that he did in Mexico, and he’s charging through the field and he’s chucking in some lunges. He loves the wheel-to-wheel racing of it. It was so good to see a spring in his step after that Grand Prix and I think it’d be really important to him that he goes out with these next two in that tone because then, when you’ve got a year on the sidelines, you can think back to that and not your terrible nine months before.”

Palmer also touched on why Daniel Ricciardo was trying to settle into a third driver's role at Mercedes or Red Bull. He talked about how the Australian was probably not the most sought-after commodity in F1 at the moment. He said,

“The third driver thing is strange to me. Are you putting Daniel Ricciardo in if Lewis does suddenly retire next year, having won the title? I don’t think you are. Let’s face it, McLaren aren’t putting him in, Alpine didn’t want him and Mercedes, at the top end fighting for titles… are they going to want to put him in at the end of the two years that he’s had? I don’t think so. So I think the way that he rebuilds his career from here, is to be on the grid and get results. You can’t get results as a third driver, that’s really frustrating thing of it.”

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Maybe Daniel Ricciardo wants a bit of a timeout

According to Palmer, Ricciardo pushing for a sabbatical could mean that the Australian is looking for a break from the rigors of the sport. He said,

“Because I’m not Daniel, I don’t know what is going on in his head and after, certainly this year, of just being beaten and slightly humbled really by [Lando] Norris and McLaren in the vibe of the whole team clearly going against him and they bought his contract out early. I know from my experience of being dropped basically by Renault, you know, it’s a little bit demoralising. Maybe he’s a bit done with it, he wants a bit of time out and he wants to just relax for the first time in over a decade in his career."

Daniel Ricciardo's future is still somewhat up in the air as it has not been revealed which team he might be affiliated with next season.