His long-rumoured departure after the 2022 season was confirmed♔ ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix - he had been contracted for next season too, but an agreement was found to end the deal early.

Alpine and Haas have been linked with adding Ricciardo to their 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:2023 driver line-up but the veteran , when asked if he could take “a sabbaticalꦬ”, said: "If it made sense, then yes. 

“It's the only racing that I am interested in but as I said if the stars don't alignಌ and it doesn't make the perfect sense, then I am willing to.

"I still love🍌 this sport. I still love it and I still want to do it in the right place. If I am here, I want to be here for a purpose so I don't know what that means for the future but if that's the right opportunity, then I want to be there."

McLaren reportedly told Ricciardo of their inteꦚntion to pay him off, and replace him with Oscar Piastri for 202𒆙3.

Ricciardo emotionally explained his disappoi🌞ntment: "It's not the result we wanted in terms of when I joined the team - this wasn't desired. We just didn't get it right. 

“We put in a lot of effort and tried to get through it, understand the car etc. Ther﷽e was just too many weekends that were a bit of a struggle. That's how it came about. 

"It's not the nicest feeling but I can hold my head high in trying to make it work. You have to a🌠ccept you tried and it didn't work out. It's just one of those things. I am proud of how we tried to make it h𓆉appen."

The split between Ricciardo and McLaren has been reported for weeks and, although it was finalised this we🔥ek, the driver has explained how it happened.

"It wasn't a random call o♈ne day. ꦦWe've been talking for the last few months and it wasn't always 'top five this race or you're done' but what we can do as a collective to make this work. 

“There was a lot of dialogue but also I knew it w✨as a point of concern because the results I was getting wasn't up to the level we all thought. We talked for months about how to rectify the issues.”

He said about Piastri, his fellow Australian, and ⭕Piastri’s manager Mark Webber: "I honestly still don't know what the fut🐲ure holds for Oscar. It's just business. 

“Mark is doing his jo💖b for Oscar. I don't take any of that personally. I will be supp💮orting a fellow Aussie."

• Zak Brown's side of the story: "We had to write a big cheque"

He added: "I think♒, like picking myself up, is something that I feel I am capable of doing. This is a big moment in time for my career but you're always going through challenges. You always have to pick yourself up. No one has a perfect career so I've learnt to deal with it.

"That fire, that belief is still in me.

"A lot of hugs and there's a lot of people want me to do well at McLaren. There's no better feeling than success in this sport so I know if I apply𓃲 myself, we can find a way to do it.ꦏ"