Daniel Ricciardo ‘deserves better’ from ‘not nice situation’ if Singapore GP was F1 farewell

Nico Rosberg said Daniel Ricciardo “deserves better” if the Singapore Grand Prix was to be the Australian’s last race in Formula 1.

A 13-year career potentially came to an end on Sunday with Ricciardo strongly rumoured to be replaced for Austin but Rosberg said that this uncertainty is not befitting of Ricciardo’s ability.

Nico Rosberg says Daniel Ricciardo ‘deserves better’

A few days on and we are still none the wiser as to whether Ricciardo has driven for the last time with Red Bull having yet to announce whether he will stay or go but Rosberg, who made his own dramatic departure from F1, said the driver deserved better.

“He deserves a really nice send off if it was his last weekend,” he said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. “This kind of like we don’t actually know what’s going on. We don’t even know if it’s going to happen so that’s not a nice situation. He deserves better than that.”

Rosberg himself chose to leave F1 at the age of 31 having just won the world title and he said that not wanting to fall down the order was part of his decision to retire early,

“That would have been definitely part of my decision, yes, because I would have really wanted to avoid dropping further down the order until one day I get fired,” the now 39-year-old said.

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“Which as you’re getting older and as things progress, one day, the time will come where the younger generation is knocking on the door and you’ll be replaced.

“So that’s definitely something that I would have wanted to avoid. Of course, I still would have had time, probably because I was still young, but in any case, for me, it was important to have it in my own hands.

“Look at that Daniel, now that’s not really a worthy ending. Sebastian Vettel, also the way his career ended, I think also is just not really worthy. And that last moment is something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

“It is powerful and important for me to get it right and in hindsight, I know it sucked at the time for many people because everybody was enjoying the battle with Lewis [Hamilton], but also, I mean, for myself and my family, it was the right decision.”

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