MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo angst, but hope ahead

Daniel Ricciardo looks to have made the right decision in departing Renault for McLaren next year after missing out on a Ferrari drive in Formula 1.

Frustrated at winding up eighth overnight in the second grand prix in a week at Austria’s A1 Ring, Ricciardo can take solace from seeing McLaren second in the constructors’ world championship in this shortened season.

Ferrari is in chaos, with Charles Leclerc crashing into teammate Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap last night and eliminating both.

Next year McLaren will drop Renault power for the Mercedes unit that has dominated the seven seasons of the hybrid era.

Lando Norris, the 20-year-old Brit who Ricciardo will join at McLaren, is already third in this season’s drivers’ championship behind Mercedes factory drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, winners the past two Sundays.

Carlos Sainz, who landed the 2021 Ferrari drive ahead of Ricciardo and has been brilliant in qualifying, has set the fastest lap in both this season’s races in the other McLaren.

Ricciardo may yet pick up a couple of places from last night’s Styrian GP because Renault has protested the brake ducts on the Racing Point cars that were just ahead of him in a photo finish a minute behind the factory Mercs.

The seven-time GP-winning Aussie and carsales global ambassador accused Lance Stroll of a “desperate” move that forced them both off the track.

“Just a frustrating end … I take the apex [of a corner] and we crash,” Ricciardo said. “I should have closed the door [blocked].”

While the Mercedes factory team remains supreme and Hamilton now has 85 wins, just six shy of Michael Schumacher’s record, the Honda-powered Red Bull that Ricciardo walked away from is the second best car in the field even if McLaren is second in the points.

Max Verstappen and Alex Albon were third and fourth for Red Bull last night, with Norris fifth after his first podium the week before.

McLaren surely will do better next year with Mercedes power than the German manufacturer’s existing customer teams, Racing Point and Williams.

Bottas leads Hamilton 43 points to 37 on the drivers’ scoreboard, with another race in Hungary next weekend, then a week’s break before successive races at Britain’s Silverstone.

Ricciardo and Renault teammate Esteban Ocon are outside the top 10 with only four points each, both having had a retirement from overheating and an eighth place.

Fernando Alonso will return from a two-year ‘sabbatical’ from F1 to replace Ricciardo next season at the French team with which he won world titles in 2005-06.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has admitted the obvious, that it was “very painful” to see both the famed Italian team’s cars out so early last night after major upgrades from the previous week but qualifying only midfield.

Meanwhile, Australian teenager Oscar Piastri extended his lead in the Formula 3 Championship despite not making the podium in either of the weekend’s races at the A1 Ring.

Driving for top junior team Prema, Piastri is 6.5 points clear in a series that has had four winners in as many races, while fellow Aussie Alex Peroni is eighth, Jack Doohan 22nd and Calan Williams 26th.

Australia’s IndyCar veteran Will Power is seventh in the North American open-wheeler series but was second in one of the weekend’s races at Road America behind Scott Dixon, already a three-time winner this season.