F1 2023: Where are Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher?

Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher are not driving for their incumbent teams in 2023. Where are they this year in the sport?

2022 was not an easy year for F1 veteran Daniel Ricciardo or young driver Mick Schumacher.

Ricciardo, who was in his second year with McLaren, failed to reach even 50 points on the season and regularly trailed behind his teammate, Lando Norris.

Mick Schumacher was involved in several crashes costing the budget-strapped Haas team large amounts of money as he figured out how to navigate the upper tier of the sport after dominating F3 and F2. He finished with 12 points.

You won’t see these drivers in familiar colors at the first race of the season in Bahrain. Both drivers are not with their 2022 teams in 2023. Neither driver is a first or second driver, either. Where are they for this season?

F1: Where is Mick Schumacher in 2023?

Mich Schumacher joined Mercedes-AMG Petronas for the year as the team’s reserve driver, and will also serve that role for McLaren. McLaren and Mercedes have historically shared reserve drivers with Mercedes because Mercedes is McLaren’s engine supplier.

Here’s what Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said about the addition of Schumacher:

"“Mick is a talented young driver and we’re delighted to have him join the team. He is a hard worker, has a calm and methodical approach and is still hungry to learn and improve as a driver. These are all important qualities, and we’re excited for him to help us develop the W14.”"

F1: Where is Daniel Ricciardo in 2023?

Daniel Ricciardo is back with Red Bull Racing as the team’s third driver — behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez — where he raced for four years from 2014 to 2017 at the peak of his career. He achieved two third-place season finishes with RBR in his first stint with the team.

Arguably, Ricciardo’s departure from RBR was what sent him on a downtrend in the first place. It seemed as though Ricciardo was incredibly comfortable with the RBR car, and failed to get a good feel for his car at Renault and then McLaren after moving to those teams.

Here is what team principal Christian Hoerner said about Ricciardo’s return to RBR, per F1.com:

"“I think that Daniel had fallen out of love a little bit with Formula 1. He’s had a couple of really tough seasons, particularly [in 2022]. For him to play a supporting role to the race drivers, as our third driver, both back here in the factory and at events with all the commercial partners we have – as one of the most recognisable faces currently in and around Formula 1, for us it made a lot of sense.”"

So, Ricciardo takes on a reserve driver-PR face combination. It makes sense for him with history being the smiling face of the sport and an RBR legacy driver.