Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap sure felt like a goodbye

On the 60th lap of this weekend’s Singapore GP, Daniel Ricciardo did something he hasn’t done in a long time: set the fastest lap of a race. It was the 17th of his career, but his first since 2021, back when he was racing alongside Lando Norris with McLaren.

Coincidentally, Ricciardo stole the fastest-lap honor from race winner Norris this time out, despite no chance at scoring the singular point it offers or changing the race outcome for himself or RB.

As McLaren principal Andrea Stella gently insinuated after the race in calling Ricciardo’s literally point-less lap “peculiar,” a conspiracy-minded F1 fan might see some Red Bull machinations at play in the decision to set the Aussie driver loose. But when Ricciardo stopped in the pitlane with only three laps remaining, languishing in 18th place, and swapped on a set of softs, the moment also read like a sendoff for a complicated, beloved driver.

Rumors about Ricciardo’s imminent demise — at RB, and as a driver in Formula 1 — reached a fever pitch in advance of the Singapore GP. It’s assumed that at some point, possibly imminently, Liam Lawson will be named as his replacement. Quantifying why the team would make a move doesn’t require a math degree: the gap between Ricciardo’s qualifying pace and lap times compared to his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s seems clear enough.

Other margins — of expectations between driver, team, and fans — are much harder to calculate for eight-time grand prix winner Ricciardo. His career arc thus far has spanned the gamut: phenom to title contender; frustrated star to outcast to comeback hopeful. He was the face of Formula 1’s “Drive to Survive” era and global explosion.

In his prime, Ricciardo fought for race wins and delivered indelible moments while gamely acting as a vulnerable, smiling, shoey-slurping face of the sport as it surged into a broader cultural awareness. He’s also pinned his last two years on a return to form with RB that hasn’t materialized.

And yet, for about four and a half minutes on Sunday in Singapore, Ricciardo took back the spotlight. On lap 60 he picked up a set of softs and ripped off a time that will sit in a history book somewhere, listed under Norris’ third-ever grand prix win. Ricciardo’s lap, at 1’34.486, was nearly a half-second faster than the then-standing fastest lap set by Norris. It’s an apples-to-oranges comparison, certainly, given Norris never touched softs — nor did second-place finisher Max…