Romain Grosjean hopes Daniel Ricciardo will make the move to IndyCar in 2023

Sam Cooper
Daniel Ricciardo smiles. Monza September 2022.

McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo smiles while in the paddock. Monza September 2022.

Romain Grosjean has said he “would love to see” Daniel Ricciardo make the move from Formula 1 to IndyCar as the Australian contemplates what comes next.

The former Haas driver made the exact same move in 2021 when he was let go by the American F1 team and joined Dale Coyne Racing.

Grosjean is not the only former F1 racer to have appeared in the 2022 IndyCar season as Takuma Sato, Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi also took part – and another would be on his way if the decision was up to Grosjean.

After he was replaced at McLaren by his Australian compatriot Oscar Piastri, Ricciardo’s future has looked increasingly uncertain when it comes to remaining on the F1 grid.

Following Pierre Gasly’s taking of the Alpine seat, Ricciardo said he was facing the “reality” that his most likely option was a year out of F1 with the view of returning in 2024.

That leaves the question of what comes next for the Honey Badger, who seems to have a wealth of options in front of him.

Ricciardo has made no secret of his love of all things American, with the driver spending plenty of time Stateside during the off-season and his embrace of the United States Grand Prix, so a move to racing in that country could be on the cards.

NASCAR and IndyCar remain the two most likely options and Grosjean tweeted he “would love to see” Ricciardo join him in the latter.

In a quote-retweet to Motorsport.com’s post, Grosjean said: “Would love to see @danielricciardo come in @IndyCar” followed by the ‘100’ emoji and the US flag.

However, any move seems unlikely to get off the ground as Ricciardo said during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend that mentally he is “not there yet” when it comes to racing in other series.

“Certainly the plan is still to be involved in Formula 1,” Ricciardo said. “It‘s kind of like just hitting pause for a little bit, as I see it.

“As far as my F1 career goes, the full intention is for 2024.

“If I feel it [racing elsewhere] would deviate away from my target, I’ll still say it’s not really where I’m looking.

“As fun or cool as it sounds to compete in something else, the truth is mentally I‘m not there yet.”

One option to keep him in F1 is to become Mercedes’ reserve driver as that rumour continues to rumble on. He has, however, been urged not to take that opportunity by 2009 World Champion Jenson Button.

“Being a third driver for someone of his calibre, it’s a very, very strange situation he’s found himself in,” said Button on Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix.

“I don’t know what he would get out of being a third driver. He’s not a young driver, so he can’t drive the car next year in race weekends (free practice), it has to be a young driver. So he wouldn’t really get anything out of it.”

Read more: F1 drivers ‘will be up in arms’ at US Grand Prix briefing with FIA