It's sad, especially the way he was treated and it ended for him at Singapore but it's been coming a while now for Danny Ric. I really felt for him during his emotional post race interview, he loves racing in F1 and no one says a bad word about him (outside of recent on track form). He's still got alot of fans.
But lost his confidence and boldness in that POS 2021-2022 Mclaren and never recovered and couldn't beat his team mate at VCARB which could have put him in the frame for the main Red Bull seat.
He even admitted he had lost his mojo, didn't meet expectations and didn't feel he had what it takes to match the young guys anymore. Danny wasn't that great at adapting to different cars but still achieved some remarkable things outside of Red Bull.
He was immensely talented and exciting to watch in his prime at Red Bull, beat Seb, beat Max, dragged a middling Renault to some podiums and got Mclarens first race win in along time at Monza a few seasons back.
Has had a fantastic career, longer and better than most. Winning a WDC is just as much about timing as talent and determination.
The Red Bull wasn't very reliable when he left them and could see they were going to prioritize a generational talent like Max. Honda power plants had been a joke @ Mclaren but they sorted their **** out by the time they put them in the Red Bulls but DR was already gone.
You need to be in the right car at the right time and have the number 1 status over your team mate. He could prob get a seat at a back marker team and stay in the sport but can understand him not wanting fade out like that anymore and wanting an actual competitive car.
You might need a bit of luck along the way too which Danny didn't seem to come across a whole lot of. Although Lewis and Max crashed out at Monza I think Danny still could have won that one on merit. He performed that entire weekend.
Shows what a freak Alonso is still having his ability at 40+ years of age.
Just glad we still have Piastri to throw our support behind, that's a kid I see winning championships if that Mclaren remains a good car.