Ricciardo never considered McLaren F1 exit | Vettel: "It's just rumours"

Last week, Ricciardo downplayed speculation about him leaving McLaren at the end of the season amid his poor run of form.

The Australian has struggled since joining the Woking outfit at the start of 2021.

Despite ending the team’s win drought at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo has been dominated by younger teammate Lando Norris.

A host of drivers have been linked with Ricciardo’s seat for 2023, including four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, Williams’ Alex Albon and Alpine junior Oscar Piastri.

The Aston Martin driver is out of contract at the end of the year but dismissed any speculation as well: "Lando [Norris] has a contract. It's just rumours.

“I think there’s a clear intention to keep going and we’ll see soon where we stand.”

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix, Ricciardo said he wanted to eradicate his fans’ fears that he was stepping away from F1 at the end of the year.

“It’s a lot of noise, rumours and people questioning, coming up with their own answers and it was building I guess,” Ricciardo said. “I was just like, look I obviously know what my future is so I am just going to let everyone know but also for people that follow me and my supporters if you will. ‘What’s Daniel going to do’ and ‘Is this going to be it?’. I was like no, it’s time, time to let everyone know from the horse's mouth.”

The seven-time grand prix winner was also quick to dismiss any suggestions that he had contemplated retirement and insisted he still remains motivated to succeed.

“Long story short, no, but of course, after even a Q1 exit, the frustration is like..., this again, how am I out in Q1? For sure, there’s frustration, Ricciardo added. “I have admitted sometimes, in a way I hate the sport because you deal with these highs and lows so often. I feel like the days that I also can find myself in a way hating it, I also love it because of the feeling that I get and what that does, how it ignites me and that feeling in my gut, I am like aw, I actually love this. 

“Of course, I would love to be on the top all the time, whatever. The feeling I get is still real, even through those lows and that belief, and everything I get, as soon as the emotion and wave of frustration blow over, give it 10 minutes, half an hour, whatever it is. Once I reset, I am like yeah, I still want this. 

“I still believe I can do it and the day I retire is the day I lose that feeling, the day I lose that belief and will to keep doing it. I truly feel like I am still pretty far from that.”

Commitment from McLaren

Ricciardo is contracted to remain with McLaren until the end of 2023 but CEO Zak Brown was openly critical of his driver’s performances earlier in the year.

The 32-year-old is sure he has “full commitment” from the team amid questions about potential performance clauses in his contract.

“I’ve got that commitment in the team,” Ricciardo added. “I wanted to address this. As you know, there’s a lot of people in the factory, there are 100s of people that work in the factory and don’t come trackside. 

“Don’t get to see everything, and don’t get to see me on a race weekend as well. Also for them, if they’re just reading some headlines on what’s Daniel’s future? Is he going to move to another team again? 

“Also if they’re trying to develop the car for me and what’s Daniel going to do? I wanted to remove any doubt for them, I wanted to address them and be like, I am in this with you and I just wanted to draw a line.”