Ricciardo’s farewell was a last-place finish, made remarkable by how he pitted in order to take the fastest lap of the race. It was one last hurrah-except Ricciardo received nothing concrete for it, and the lap, which took a point away from grand prix winner Lando Norris, just so happened to benefit Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in the Drivers' Championship.
The outwardly unnecessary four-day delay to the announcement would have been distasteful even for the average driver; that a company of Red Bull's profile made such an oversight could be ascribed to the year's broadly self-inflicted dysfunction that has plagued the Red Bull higher-ups. An explanation does not change the travesty that Ricciardo, a boisterous fan-favorite, is somehow leaving the sport without similarly boisterous fanfare.
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