Daniel Ricciardo says thoughts of racing in IndyCar are a “fantasy”.
The Australian is out of a seat in Formula 1 next year but has indicated a plan is in place for 2023, with a reserve driver role at his former team Red Bull now being touted.
Given his love for America, IndyCar has been seen as a natural place for Ricciardo to look outside of F1, but he had a simple reason why it holds little interest.
“F**k that. Ovals scare me,” he said via GPFans.
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“My Formula 1 career slash ambition is not over, so that is really first and foremost. I don’t want to deviate, primarily for that reason.
“But also, ovals? Nah. 10 years ago, I would have said yes, but I’m ok to admit that I’m not ok with ovals.”
Interestingly, Ricciardo’s concerns were the same held by Romain Grosjean, who initially raced only on road and street courses when he joined from F1 in 2021.
The Frenchman though soon changed his mind and now races a full IndyCar schedule and voiced his support of seeing the 33-year-old join him across the pond.
Would love to see @danielricciardo come in @IndyCar ??? https://t.co/DhXgT0ryNS
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) October 8, 2022
But even the idea of following Grosjean’s lead by skipping the ovals doesn’t really increase Ricciardo’s temptation.
“They look fun but I think because I’m not out of F1 yet, I haven’t really entertained it,” he insisted.
“The fantasising part of it, America and all that would be fun but yeah, it’s more of a fantasy.”