Exclusive Encounter: Daniel Ricciardo’s Mysterious 10-Minute Huddle with Lando Norris at the Singapore GP

Daniel Ricciardo met Lando Norris “in private” after the 2024 Singapore GP. RB driver Ricciardo was making final preparations to leave the F1 paddock.

This, F1 photographer Kim Il-man claims, was likely caught on camera for the Netflix show Drive to Survive, in which the former McLaren teammates spent around 10 minutes together. It is said to have been

The Singapore Grand Prix is ​​likely to be the final race of Ricciardo’s F1 career. Rumours are growing that Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson will be replaced by Ricciardo at RB for the upcoming American Grand Prix.

Ricciardo was emotional at the end of the Singapore race. The 35-year-old received an honorable farewell upon his return to the VCARB hospitality area.

This is due to Ricciardo making a pit stop towards the end of the race to change tyres and record the fastest lap. This took bonus points from race winner Norris and closed the points gap to Red Bull driver and world championship leader Max Verstappen to 52 points with six races remaining in the 2024 F1 season.

When it was announced on team radio after the checkered flag that Ricciardo had taken the point on the fastest lap from Norris, Verstappen replied: “Thanks, Daniel.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella expressed frustration with Ricciardo’s fastest lap as RB is jointly owned by Red Bull, stressing that the F1 team should “act completely autonomously” and expressed concern for the “Union Championship”.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner denied any influence from his team, insisting: “Daniel obviously wanted to finish the race in first place.”

While Ricciardo’s future has yet to be officially announced, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said last week that RB’s 2025 F1 driver lineup will be finalised by next month’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

Marko previously commented that Lawson “will definitely be in one of the cars next year” and Red Bull shareholders will be hoping that RB will return to Toro Rosso’s roots as a team that develops young drivers in which it has shown interest.

Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo met in ‘undisclosed location’ after Singapore Grand Prix
Appearing on his YouTube channel, Illman revealed what will likely be Ricciardo’s final moments as an active F1 driver. That incident was a brief visit to the paddock from Norris, who had dominated the race from pole position in Singapore to claim his third career win.

Norris and Ricciardo spent two seasons as teammates at McLaren in 2021/22, with Ricciardo helping end McLaren’s nine-year wait for a win at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix (Monza).

Ricciardo left McLaren at the end of the 2022 season and briefly served as Red Bull’s reserve driver before returning to the VCARB race venue (then AlphaTauri) in July 2023.

“At 1.46am on September 23, Daniel Ricciardo left the Formula 1 paddock for the last time as a Formula 1 driver,” Illman said.

“It was a strange and heartbreaking night as F1 bid farewell to a driver whose departure had not yet been formally announced.”

“Speculation? No, Daniel had no doubts about his future and neither did the rest of the paddock. There were many tears”

“He was named Driver of the Day. Is it a sentimental vote? We all knew he was leaving the sport and we wanted to show him this appreciation.”

“After the race, he sat in the car for a while, thinking this was going to be his last race.”

“One driver was in the media pen for probably the longest time he’s ever been. He talked to everyone who talked to him, sometimes for 15 minutes.

“She spent most of the interview happy and smiling, which is her personality. But in some interviews she was on the verge of tears.”

“He came back into the hospitality suite, and there were honorees on both sides of him, and everyone applauded when he walked in. He fist-bumped people, gave high-fives, and then sat in a private meeting for a while. I was in the room.”

“Shortly after midnight, Lando Norris came to see Daniel. They debriefed in a private conference room in the back of RB’s garage.”

“Was the media there too? Yes, I want Netflix.”

“If he wasn’t there, he would have been right there. It’s going to be heartbreaking to see him next year.”

“About 10 minutes later Lando left the paddock. As far as I could see, Daniel was the only driver left in the paddock at that time. It was getting quite late.

“Tsunoda (Hiruki) entered the garage, Laurent Mequise (RB team principal) also entered the garage, and they both came out.”

“And then finally Daniel showed up with his manager, Blake, and they went back to the hospitality suite.”

“There were more hugs and tears, and then we went upstairs for a while. At that point, Daniel felt like he didn’t want to leave.”

“Maybe I had a late flight, I don’t know exactly, but it was weird to witness the weird things that such a kind man goes through.”

“When Daniel finally came down, he went into the kitchen, said ‘thank you’ to the staff working there and walked over to where we were standing.”

“I vividly remember talking to Daniel’s father, who won the race, in Monza in 2021. He said: ‘Give Daniel a hug for me.’

“I said, ‘Daniel, your dad wants me to hug you,’ and he came back up the stairs and hugged me, which I thought was so sweet at the time.”

“I told Daniel and I said, ‘I have to hug him back,’ because he was hugging everybody at that point. And I got a hug from this great man. . . And he took a picture with my son and me.”

“Then three fans came up to him and tried to take a selfie. He took off his hat, signed an autograph and handed it to one of the fans, as if to say, ‘You can’t leave this on.’ It was like, ‘This isn’t going to go down.'”

“Even though he was wearing a T-shirt, he said, ‘No, I’ll give you a hat.’

Illman also accused Red Bull of “putting Ricciardo on a dirty path” after the 35-year-old was forced to answer questions about his future during the Singapore Grand Prix race.

He also said he was disappointed that Ricciardo, who has been one of the most important drivers in F1 over the past decade, had to end his F1 career in this way.

“All weekend he was answering questions from the media about what was going on, remaining cautiously silent but saying nothing. Red Bull also said nothing.

“There is no announcement at the moment that he is leaving racing. Red Bull hasn’t said anything either.”

“Why? Nobody knows.”

“I’ve heard from some people that Helmut wants to get rid of him, but I think Christian still wants to be part of the team.”

“One thing is for sure: this does not make a good impression. And I think many people would agree with me that Red Bull got rid of him in a dirty way. They threw him in the hay. I hung him on the mountain wall.”

“He was reeling from these questions all weekend and it was sad to watch.”

“Daniel is a wonderful, kind-hearted man, but unfortunately I think he had to deal with these questions alone, with very little support from Red Bull.”

“And what about his successor, Liam Lawson? I spoke to him a bit over the weekend and he said, ‘Listen, it’s just frustrating for me.’

“But don’t worry, Liam will be in that car in Austin.”

“So what will Daniel do now?”

“Well, I think I’ll go back to Australia in the next week or so and just wait for Red Bull to announce that Daniel is leaving the team.”

“Anyone who is a Daniel fan or has any sense would want Daniel to finish the race in the best possible way so that he can say ‘thank you’ to everyone when he takes part in his last race. Everyone knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this was his last race, he probably did a donut corner on the track to celebrate a great career in F1.

“Instead there was no fanfare. It was just him and his manager who left the Singapore Grand Prix paddock at 1.46am.”

“I saw him walking towards the paddock exit and when he was almost out of the paddock he turned and looked behind him.”

“Then, as he took his final steps out of the paddock, he looked up at the sign above him, as forklifts raced back and forth.”

“It’s not the way an F1 driver wants to go. You’re almost the last one out there and there’s nobody around, just a few cameras.”

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