United States GP chief ‘hopes’ Daniel Ricciardo will make appearance in Austin

Circuit of the Americas F1 chief Bobby Epstein has offered to keep Daniel Ricciardo “busy” if he attends next weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Ricciardo is no longer an F1 driver after he was dropped by VCARB following the Singapore Grand Prix.

It’s likely that the last race in Singapore was his final one in F1, bringing an end to a successful career.

Despite struggling for on-track performance, Ricciardo remains one of F1’s most popular drivers.

He also had a big fan base in the United States, particularly due to Netflix series Drive to Survive.

Epstein is keen to see Ricciardo still at the race, even if he’s not driving.

He said as quoted by ESPN: “Daniel, he may be able to have just as big of an impact out of the car as he has in it at our at our grand prix.

“I’m not sure that necessarily people are buying tickets to come see him race if he’s not in a competitive car, right? So if you’re coming because he’s part of the the F1 community, I think he can still be part of the F1 community in a pretty meaningful way.

“He’s really, really loved in Texas, and I think he likes it here,” Epstein added.

“And so I would hope that he makes himself available more to the fans than he would otherwise be if he had an obligation in the car.

“I hope he’s still coming here, because we got a lot of people that would love to shake his hand or get his autograph or take a picture. Just see him around town.

“We’ll keep him busy.”