Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has announced his departure from McLaren at the end of the 2022 season in only his second year with the team.
The 33-year-old Australian revealed the news on Twitter with a short video message to fans.
“Obviously, we put in a lot of effort on both sides, but it just hasn’t worked,” he said.
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“So, the team has decided to make a change for next year… and we mutually agreed it was the right thing to do.”
It’s widely believed that fellow Australian Oscar Piastri will replace Ricciardo at McLaren.
Similarly, some think this will pave the way for his return to Alpine after he left the team in 2020 when it was still Renault F1.
There are also reports that Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was in touch with him before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
However, there’s one clue that suggests the Australian could be moving to Aston Martin.
Daniel Ricciardo’s Aston Martins
When you look at Ricciardo’s personal car collection, his love of Aston Martin is hard to miss.
Most cars he’s owned have been those of the teams he’s driven for, but his links with Aston Martin are less direct.
Ricciardo is believed to be the owner of an Aston Martin Valkyrie which is worth a cool $3 million.
It’s the closest thing to an F1 car for the road, so it’s fitting he’d own one.
Similarly, he confirmed in 2017 that he owned a 2016 Vantage V12 worth $189,000 new.
Now yes, Aston Martin was a technical partner of his team at the time, Red Bull Racing.
However, it says a lot that he bought Astons rather than a Renault or an Infiniti – as both brands were also tied to Red Bull at the time.
With four-time champion and current Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel retiring at the end of this season, there’ll also be an opening at the team next year.
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Express even reports that Aston Martin put out a since-deleted tweet after Ricciardo’s contract termination news broke with a picture of Vettel sipping a beer.
Perhaps we’re reading too far into this, but a move to Aston Martin isn’t a crazy idea.
What about Porsche?
Porsche might not be racing in F1 yet, but the company is planning to enter the sport in 2026 and already competes in Formula E.
So, while it won’t be Ricciardo’s next contract, it could be on the cards.
Ricciardo has owned two Porsches, one of them being the incredible 918 Spyder.
Priced at $845,000 when he bought it new in 2013, the hybrid hypercar is worth around $1.6 million now.
Ricciardo also told The Sunday Times that he bought a 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS back in 2014.
The fact he bought an older 997-generation model indicated it was a car he’d been wanting for some time.
And it’s no wonder when it’s powered by a glorious 3.6-liter naturally aspirated flat-six.
There was even an optional roll cage offered on the GT3 RS.
Today, a 997.1 model like this is worth around $190,000.
What other cars does Daniel Ricciardo own?
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Perhaps the most notable car Ricciardo owns is his McLaren 675LT.
Before he’d officially signed with McLaren, he had already been spotted driving around in the blue $350,000 supercar.
“I kept [it] under wraps for quite a few years, but now I can drive it openly without any conflict, so to speak,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Ricciardo also owns a 2018 Ford F-150 Raptor which he describes as his “dream ute”.
With it, he’s gone full circle as his very first car was a Toyota HiLux pickup truck.
He keeps the off-road beast at a friend’s house in America to use when he’s in the country.
Ricciardo has also owned a few hot hatches.
When he drove for Renault in 2019 and 2020, his company car was a Megane R.S. Trophy.
He also owned a Volkswagen Golf GTI in 2012.
