‘I still want this’ – Daniel Ricciardo slams F1 retirement and McLaren sack rumours and wants to continue career

DANIEL RICCIARDO has rubbished suggestions he is about to be booted out of McLaren and insists he is staying with the team until the end of 2023.

The Aussie has simply not delivered on a regular basis since joining the team from Renault last year.

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And his poor performances earned him some public criticism from McLaren CEO, Zak Brown.

McLaren have been linked with Sebastian Vettel while they handed an F1 test to IndyCar driver Colton Herta last week in Portugal, but Ricciardo says he's going nowhere.

Ricciardo, who defiantly posted this week on social media, said: "It's a lot of noise, rumours and people questioning, coming up with their own answers and it was building.

"I know what my future is, so I am just going to let everyone know but also for people that follow me and my supporters.

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"'What's Daniel going to do' and 'Is this going to be it?'. I was like no, it's time, time to let everyone know from the horse's mouth.

"I would love to be on the top all the time. The feeling I get is still real, even through those lows.

";As soon as the emotion and wave of frustration blows over, once I reset, I am like yeah, I still want this.

"I still believe I can do it and the day I retire is the day I lose that feeling and belief. I truly feel like I am still pretty far from that."

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Meanwhile, Vettel, who is out of contract at Aston Martin at the end of the year, has been linked to retiring.

The four-time world champion has been speaking out on F1 and environmental issues leading to other speculation that he will quit when his deal expires.

The 35-year-old was coy when asked about his future ahead of the French GP and played down the link to McLaren.

He said: "Lando [Norris] has a contract. It's just rumours. I think there's a clear intention to keep going and we'll see soon where we stand."