A Hollywood comeback like that of the fictitious character from the F1: The Movie played by Brad Pitt is up for grabs in 2026 at soon-to-be new outfit Cadillac, if Daniel Ricciardo could just believe in some movie magic of his own in the twilight of his career.
The racing film that roared into theaters on June 27 has grossed nearly $300 million worldwide so far, according to data from IMDbPro's Box Office Mojo, becoming Apple's highest-grossing film to date, and leading to reports of a sequel on the horizon and Apple in talks to acquire the streaming rights for F1.
Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a former Formula 1 driver from the 1990s who had a promising career until an accident on the track nearly ended his life. Thirty years later, his friend and owner of a struggling team, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), convinces him to return.
Early in the film (some potential spoilers ahead), Pitt’s character asks Cervantes if he’s ever seen a miracle, and the two agree with a chuckle that they haven’t. This exchange segways to a pivotal question in that scene from the movie regarding Hayes’ decision to return: “So what is it about?”
While the plot is far-fetched on many levels, it is inspiring if cliched, and although Ricciardo didn’t have an accident that derailed his career, some questionable decisions along the way, most notably a departure from Red Bull in 2018 as the team were truly taking off, may have changed his F1 trajectory for good.
All of that could change with a Hayes-like decision for Ricciardo to give it one more go on what would likely be the absolute last chance for him to return to the pinnacle of motorsport, given his age and lack of opportunities with only 10 teams and 20 drivers in the series (set to become 11 teams and 22 seats). Cadillac will surely be monitoring driver movement.
Daniel Ricciardo to Cadillac?
He is only months removed from his most recent F1 race at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix as the second American outfit is making preparations for their own F1 debut in 2026. Reports indicate that there is interest on Cadillac’s side, but the Australian driver admitted to F1.com recently that he is “enjoying some life in the slow lane” since his last race.
The success of the film illustrates how much people rally around a comeback story, and honestly, Ricciardo might be as responsible for the movie’s conceptualization as any F1 driver, as he was the central character in the first episodes of Drive to Survive on Netflix, which has led to a sweeping F1 craze in the U.S. ever since the pandemic, and spawned projects like this film.
With his movie star smile, he was already a beloved fan-favorite on the grid, allowing him second chances at multiple stops. Ricciardo never realized his F1 title aspirations, but the “Honey Badger” did win eight races across 14 seasons and showed plenty of promise, securing three pole positions, 17 fastest laps, and 32 podium finishes.
Proper timing just never seemed to align for Ricciardo, who turned 36 on July 1. He faced a tumultuous few years, having been left without a seat coming into 2023.
A challenging stretch at McLaren resulted in the mutual decision to terminate his contract early at the end of 2022, and then he returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver before being drafted in at the sister team to replace Nyck de Vries at the then-named AlphaTauri squad (now Racing Bulls), all while Red Bull were winning constructor championships in 2022 and 2023.
He remained with the team into 2024 but was replaced by Liam Lawson for the remainder of the campaign following the round at Singapore.
“I mean, it sounds weird saying like retirement when I’m 35 years old, but retirement from at least the world I was living in,” Ricciardo told F1.com. “It’s cool.”
The potential candidates for Cadillac have been far reaching, from IndyCar stars Colton Herta (an American for an American team) to Pato O’Ward (a Mexican with a big international appeal) and three-time series champion and reigning Indy 500 winner Alex Palou (of Spain who has all but locked up his fourth title mid-season) to F1 veterans Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, with the latter posting a video to social media in June making some tongue-in-cheek references to the team, sparking further rumors.
Do we like this seat? pic.twitter.com/DhUuCdpGcB
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) June 23, 2025
There will be two seats available, and Ricciardo’s marketability cannot be overlooked, even after his unceremonious exit in Singapore last year, and his continued remarks of late that his F1 career is a thing of the past.
Stranger things have happened in F1 as recently as last weekend, as a matter of fact. It took 15 years and 239 races, but Nico Hülkenberg, Ricciardo’s teammate at Renault in 2019, finally made it onto the podium with a third-place finish at the British Grand Prix on Sunday. That’s the most career starts for a driver before claiming a top-three finish and a trophy in the sport's history.
Some hard-to-believe tales just take longer to come to fruition, and not all of them are of the cinematic variety and live solely on the silver screen.
Ricciardo can look no further than the mirror, and like Pitt’s Hayes, answer the question only he himself can answer internally about this latest potential comeback opportunity and his unfulfilled quest to be an F1 world champion: “So what is it about?”