Daniel Ricciardo to leave McLaren at end of 2022 season as team eye wantaway Alpine driver Oscar Piastri

Daniel Ricciardo is expected to be replaced at McLaren next season by fellow Australian Oscar Piastri; Ricciardo is currently without a seat for the 2023 campaign; watch the Belgian GP this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1, with first practice live at 1pm on Friday

Daniel Ricciardo will leave McLaren at the end of the season

Daniel Ricciardo will leave McLaren at the end of the season after he and the team agreed a mutual early termination of his contract.

Confirmation of the early exit, which follows the start of an extraordinary transfer saga, opens the door for Oscar Piastri to join the Woking team – although Alpine are still adamant they have a contract for their wantaway youngster to stay.

“It’s been a privilege to be a part of the McLaren Racing family for the last two seasons but following several months of discussions with Zak & Andreas we have decided to terminate my contract with the team early and agree to mutually part ways at the end of this season,” said Ricciardo

“I’ll be announcing my own future plans in due course but regardless of what this next chapter brings, I have no regrets and am proud of the effort and work I gave McLaren, especially the win in Monza, last season.”

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With Daniel Ricciardo’s future at McLaren appearing to be in doubt, take a look back at his greatest race victories for Red Bull

Ricciardo did have a contract for 2023 after signing a three-year deal when joining McLaren and had been adamant – even releasing a statement on social media in July before the Alpine-Piastri drama began – that he would be staying.

The bombshell news follows the wild sequence of events that began with Fernando Alonso announcing he was leaving Alpine for Aston Martin following the Hungarian GP before the summer break.

The drama has F1 hopeful Piastri at its centre, with the young Alpine reserve having refuted his team’s announcement that he was driving for them next year, and insisting he will be racing elsewhere.

McLaren are the team who were – and are – in negotiations with Piastri.

More to follow…