Following today's announcement from Alpine, Daniel Ricciardo accepts that he will not be on the F1 grid next season.

Though it was unlikely that senior management wanted the Australian back at Alpine the French team remained his last hope of securing a seat with a competitive team - and essentially dismissing Williams, Britain's most successful team in terms of constructors' titles, as back of the grid no-hopers is still hard to believe.

As well as Alpine confirming its 2023 line-up, AlphaTauri's recruitment of Nyck de Vries closed off any hope of Ricciardo returning to the Red Bull family.

Therefore with Haas and the aforesaid Williams his only options, Ricciardo admits that securing an F1 race seat for next season is out of the question.

"To be honest, I mean the Gasly news, I was aware," he told reporters. "I knew they were talking for a while, and I knew they were very interested in Pierre. So I was prepared for that, it's no surprise.

"We're trying to, let's say, navigate our way around that and figure out what was next," he added. "But I think the reality is now I won't be on the grid in '23. I think it's now just trying to set up for '24.

"There could be some better opportunities then, so that's really what all this confirms and now where the sights are set."

Asked about speculation linking him with a reserve role at Mercedes, Ricciardo was unable to confirm anything other than to admit that he is talking to a "top team".

"Certainly the plan is still to be involved in F1," he said. "It's kind of like hitting pause for a little bit as far as my F1 career goes."

Asked about speculation lining his with other forms of racing, he said: "The full intention is (F1) for '24 and, I'm sure it could open up opportunities to maybe do some of that stuff but if I feel it's going to like deviate away from my target then I would still say it's not really where I'm looking.

"As fun or cool as it sounds to compete in something else, truth is, mentally I'm not there yet. I'm still so engaged in this and I think a bit of time off, or out of a seat, will probably do me good.

"So I would probably use that as opposed to like trying to jump in something else and stay busy in a different category. I still say pretty convincingly it wouldn't happen anywhere else."

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