No send-off — and no respect. It never should have to end like this for Ricciardo

Should Daniel Ricciardo not race in F1 again, the Singapore Grand Prix was not a sign-off fitting for one of its biggest stars of the modern era.

Forget about the performance. It’s no secret that RB wasn’t worthy of winning any points in Singapore where Ricciardo came home dead-last among the cars still on-track.

It’s the fact that an eight-time grand prix winner — and one of F1’s most popular drivers ever — seems certain to be shuffled to the sidelines with no official acknowledgment, no send-off and no respect.

That this silent farewell has come after what seems to have been a week of genuine uncertainty for the Australian — who in the space of two months went from thinking he would be replacing Sergio Pérez to being braced to be unceremoniously turfed from his seat — only adds insult to injury.

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Of course there’s little room for sentiment in Formula 1, and the Red Bull program has a particular reputation for ruthlessness.

Drivers aren’t entitled to drive if they don’t perform, and Ricciardo has been open about failing to meet his own expectations. Few would have been surprised to see him dropped at the end of the season.

You can even mount a credible argument to drop him this week. If RB has resolved to bring in Liam Lawson next year, it may as well get him a head start in its inconsistent car to help him hit the ground running in 2025.

But to string Ricciardo along for the week, to allow him to qualify and race for the final time without knowing for certain — and without his fans knowing for certain — comes across as heartless.

Ricciardo might have spent the second half of his career battling in the midfield, but he’s no journeyman.

He’s an eight-time grand prix winner who in his pomp could beat any driver on the grid. Whose racing style is a natural highlights generator. Whose character cut through what was, in his early years certainly, still a stuffy, conservative and closed sport.

Ricciardo gave much to Red Bull Racing during its fallow inter-title years. He also gave much to Formula 1 as one of its highest profile drivers, becoming central to the Drive to Survive phenomenon that’s been the foundation of the sport’s new global popularity.

“A lot of emotions, because I’m aware it could be it,” an emotional Ricciardo said after the race. “I’m also just exhausted after the race.

“There’s a flood of many emotions and feelings and exhaustion. The cockpit is something that I got very used to for many years.

“I just wanted to savour the moment.”

It’s a shame Ricciardo’s fans — many of them home fans having travelled from Australia — weren’t given the opportunity to savour seeing him in action for seems likely to be the final time.

Instead he’ll be farewelled by press release sometime in the next three weeks.

In the paddock after the race guests of RB hospitality formed an impromptu guard of honour for the Australian.

RB team principal Laurent Mekies was among those applauding. Mekies bizarrely told SiriusXM that he was also looking forward to clarity over the situation, acknowledging that it must have been hard for his driver to get through the weekend.

That the team boss couldn’t offer certainty speaks to a broader dysfunction in the whole process.

At least, reading the room, F1’s viewing public voted him as driver of the day.

“Typically the driver of the day thing is not something us drivers put too much into, but today I can say it’s something I’m appreciative of,” he told Sky Sports. “That one today means a little something.”