Daniel Ricciardo was approached by and talked to the new Fortescue Zero Formula E team about a potential drive in Formula E for 2027.
Formula E Notebook can reveal that the eight time Grand Prix winner had a discussion with the Australian team about the possibility of racing for them but the talks were not able to go beyond the initial approach stage.
37 year-old Ricciardo has not raced since the 2024 F1 season when he was dropped by the Racing Bulls after being comprehensively outperformed by Yuki Tsunoda. Since that time Ricciardo has been a Global Ambassador for Ford Racing where he has an emphasis on working with the Raptor brand.
FEN learned recently that Fortescue Zero contacted Ricciardo in September about the possibility of racing in GEN4 and wanted to gauge if there was interest from the former Red Bull, McLaren, Renault and Racing Bulls driver.
A formal offer was not made in the tentative discussions and it did not lead to further probing by Fortescue Zero, who were initially keen on an Australian driver because of its base in the country and its founder and leader Andrew Forrest (pictured below) being a noted enthusiast and investor in some Australian sports, notably Rugby Union and Rugby League.
Ricciardo recently outlined some of his post-F1 challenges following the end of his career two years ago, telling the F1 podcast ‘Beyond the Grid’ how he handled his downturn in form toward the end of his F1 run.
“You start racing at such a young age and over the years you build a ruthlessness, but that also is inward as well,” he told host, Tom Clarkson.
“You know, you can be very harsh on yourself and expect a lot from yourself. I think that my view of it was [that I was] failing, not performing to the level I needed to at the time or not being able to finish out the season or whatever.
“It’s then a sense of humiliation, like I failed and I didn’t do what I once could. Trying to deal with those next few months, I understood it as I was just hiding from the humiliation.
“People saw me out in public. I was having a good time and having a drink or whatever, and I was just really hiding from what I really felt deep inside, which was a lot of pain and sadness,” Ricciardo revealed.
FEN has also discovered that Fortescue Zero also briefly considered F1 reserve Jack Dohhan but no significant talks took place with the current Haas reserve driver, who was recently overlooked in favour of Toyota WEC driver, Ryo Hirakawa, as a substitute for an out of favour Esteban Ocon at last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Fortescue Zero has already confirmed that Taylor Barnard and Dan Ticktum will form an all-British line-up in their maiden Formula E season in 2026-27.
Main photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
