Daniel Ricciardo Never Close To Ferrari Move

It has emerged that Daniel Ricciardo had contract discussions with Ferrari but that these were never serious enough to discuss financial numbers or contract terms.

Previously with Red Bull, Ricciardo switched to Renault in 2019, and then to McLaren at the start of 2021 after spending the previous two seasons with the French outfit.

Despite his name being linked to Ferrari twice, the Italian team went on to sign Charles Leclerc in 2019 and Carlos Sainz in 2021.

Ricciardo recently opened up about his discussions with Ferrari on ESPN. 

“It was never close enough that there was any exchange of any paper.

“There was a bit of phone calls but even then it never got to details: numbers, years.

“It never got to, let’s say, step two. It was always at a basic level.”

Due to his Italian heritage on his father’s side of the family, Ricciardo was often seen as a good fit for Ferrari.

“There was chatter and all that sort of stuff and, for sure, when there was no Italian on the grid for a few years, I think I was seen as the closest thing and people said I would be a good fit.

“But would we have been a good fit? Yeah, I think so, but I didn’t have blinkers on for it.

“Sure, it would have been a nice story to tell.”

As a child, Ricciardo was a Ferrari fan, but when he started out in Formula One, he didn’t have his heart set on driving for the Italian team.

“Growing up as a really young kid before I was racing, it was Ferrari [that I supported],” he added.

“We were, I guess, a Ferrari family because my dad was born in Sicily, but that was kind of it.

“And in saying that, dad was also a massive Senna fan so we didn’t live and die by Ferrari.

“I had a little bit of Ferrari merchandise, but it wasn’t my dream to race for them.

“My dream was always to get into Formula One.”