Daniel Ricciardo may have finally made a smart career move.

The Aussie star emerged from Monday morning’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix as the biggest winner after sitting back and watching his former team McLaren fall apart.

The 33-year-old was last year famously sacked and replaced with fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri, who endured a nightmare start to his career in McLaren’s famous papaya colours.

The Formula 1 world — and in particular, Ricciardo’s legions of fans from his Drive to Survive stardom — are delighting in Ricciardo’s seemingly fortuitous chain of events.

While Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the red-hot Aston Martin outfit were also big winners, one look at the results to the season opener show it is Ricciardo whose smile will beam the brightest.

The West Australian last year endured a rollercoaster time at his third team as he more often than not failed to find the form that made him one of the most exciting drivers on the grid.

He did capture McLaren’s first Grand Prix victory since 2012 when he crossed the line first during the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, edging out Norris.

But after claiming his eighth Grand Prix victory, Ricciardo never stepped foot on the podium again as a McLaren driver.

It eventually saw the team cut ties with him in favour of rising Aussie youngster Piastri in wild scenes that took the F1 paddock by storm.

The fallout to the unceremonious axing is captured in Netflix’s new season of their smash hit, Drive to Survive, with one moment showing Ricciardo was pre-warned of the betrayal.

Ricciardo appeared to be warned by a journalist not to trust McLaren boss Zak Brown after the CEO moved to sign Piastri before even telling Ricciardo he had been terminated with a full season remaining on his contract.

He walked away with a reported monster pay-out with some reports claiming the contract termination was worth up to $24 million.

Being paid a fortune not to drive McLaren’s 2023 lemon is as sweet as it gets.

Formula One blogger and podcast host VF Castro posted on Twitter: “Daniel Ricciardo is the real winner this year. Imagine getting paid $18million to not drive that car… then becoming the third driver for Red Bull”.

Ricciardo has since returned to his old stomping ground at Red Bull as a reserve driver for Verstappen and Sergio Perez. His role is centred on putting hours into the team’s simulator and doing marketing duties at the races he does attend. The part-time role gives him the freedom he has craved after declaring he was struggling with burn out in 2022.

His move to Red Bull as a reserve, rejecting race seat offers at smaller teams Williams and Haas, was roundly criticised across the F1 paddock at the time.

Drive to Survive icon and Haas team boss Guenther Steiner revealed the team had pulled the pin on chasing Ricciardo due to his highly-inflated contract demands.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was conveying his excitement at potentially joining forces with the smiling Aussie in 2023, but Steiner quickly shut that notion down.

“We can’t afford him, Kevin,” Steiner says. “He wants 10 f***ing million. Minimum!”

The decision to sit out the season is still the greatest gamble of Ricciardo’s career — but it certainly looks the right one after McLaren, Haas and Williams all showed they will struggle to break into the middle of the pack in 2023.

If able to return to the grid with a competitive team in 2024 it will have been the first time Ricciardo has got a major career-decision correct with his move from Red Bull to Alpine (formerly known as Renault) and then Alpine to McLaren both being disasters.

Looking at where McLaren, Williams and Haas finished in Bahrain shows why Ricciardo fans can be smiling — even if the popular driver’s career is still in purgatory.

Bahrain Grand Prix results

1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull,

3) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

5) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

6) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

7) George Russell, Mercedes

8) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo

9) Pierre Gasly, Alpine

10) Alex Albon, Williams

11) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

12) Logan Sargeant, Williams

13) Kevin Magnussen, Haas

14) Nyck De Vries, AlphaTauri

15) Nico Hulkenberg, Haas

16) Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo

17, Lando Norris, McLaren

18) Esteban Ocon, Alpine (DNF)

19) Charles Leclerc (DNF)

20) Oscar Piastri, McLaren (DNF)

There’s no guarantee there will be an opening him for at a top team in 2024, with Red Bull (Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez), Ferrari (Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz) and Mercedes (George Russell, Lewis Hamilton) entrenched with their driving pairings for the foreseeable future.

Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast recently, Ricciardo said he was relieved Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari didn’t offer him a full-time drive he would have felt obliged to accept when his heart wasn’t in it for 2023.

It may still be a decision that ultimately ends his career — but for now at least he can have a smile on his face.