Emotional Daniel Ricciardo heads toward likely F1 exit with a lap that could decide the title

Daniel Ricciardo was once tipped as a future Formula 1 champion. His last act in F1 might be playing spoiler in the title race.

The Australian's late rally at the Singapore GP on Sunday snatched the bonus point for fastest lap away from title challenger Lando Norris and helped out Max Verstappen. Ricciardo drives for RB, the sister team of Verstappen's Red Bull, and has previously been a teammate to both Norris and Verstappen.

“If Max wins by a point then I just guaranteed myself a nice Christmas present,” Ricciardo told British broadcaster Sky Sports. Verstappen thanked Ricciardo over the radio to Red Bull.

The lap put the visibly emotional Ricciardo — a popular figure in F1 — in the spotlight ahead of a widely expected decision to replace him with RB's reserve driver Liam Lawson. It generated controversy, too.

Ricciardo finished outside the top 10 so the point isn’t credited to him in the standings, and he finished further back — in 18th place — because he stopped for fresh tires before the lap.

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown objected.

“This once again illustrates that the issue of A/B teams and dual ownership in F1 needs to be addressed as it creates opportunities to manipulate outcomes," Brown told The Associated Press.

"It is precluded in the sporting regulations and we must make sure this type of incident doesn’t happen again in the future, as in Singapore only one team benefited and it wasn’t the team which set the fastest lap.”

RB's team principal Laurent Mekies said the team had simply wanted to give Ricciardo a race to remember.

"Given this may have been Daniel’s last race, we wanted to give him the chance to savor it and go out with the fastest lap," he said in a statement.

RB has yet to officially confirm Ricciardo is leaving, but the driver gave his clearest indication yet that this may have been his last race.

“A lot of emotions because I’m aware it could be it,” he said.

Ricciardo's F1 career looked like it might be over in 2022 when he was soundly beaten by Norris at McLaren. After a stint as a Red Bull reserve, he got another chance last year when RB, then branded AlphaTauri, fired the underperforming Nyck de Vries midseason. It hasn't really worked out, with only four top-10 finishes in 25 races.

“I always said I don’t want to come back just to be on the grid, I want to try and fight back in the front and get back with Red Bull, and obviously it didn’t come to fruition. So then I also have to ask myself the question, ‘Well, then what else can I achieve?’” Ricciardo told Sky Sports.

“Maybe the fairy-tale ending didn’t happen, but I also have to look back on 13 or so years, and I’m proud.”

Even more than for his eight wins, the last of them in 2021, the Australian was famed for his easy-going manner and sense of humor and became a standout face of the “Drive To Survive” Netflix series, which brought F1 to a new audience and sparked a boom in interest in the United States.

Ricciardo's voice was the first heard in the first episode from the 2018 season, which showed him relaxing with his family in Australia and talking of his dream of being a champion.

Ricciardo's fastest lap tipped the title race away from Norris in one very important way. If Verstappen is second in each of the remaining six Grand Prix races and three sprints, he will retain the championship by one point from Norris.

Ricciardo helped out a driver from what's officially a different team, but Norris isn't complaining.

“That’s how it’s been in Formula 1 probably since before I was born, so nothing to complain about,” he said. "It’s the logical thing to do, the smart play by them. Happy for Daniel, that’s all."

AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer contributed to this report.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

RB driver Daniel Ricciardo of Australia poses for a selfie with fans in the paddock at the Baku circuit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Sept.12, 2024. The Formula One Grand Prix will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

RB driver Daniel Ricciardo of Australia during the second practice session of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Singapore, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, left, of the Netherlands and RB driver Daniel Ricciardo of Australia talk during the drivers parade ahead of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Singapore, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

RB driver Daniel Ricciardo of Australia steers his car during the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Singapore, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) — Like many retirement communities, The Terraces serves as a tranquil refuge for a nucleus of older people who no longer can travel to faraway places or engaging in bold adventures.

But they can still be thrust back to their days of wanderlust and thrill-seeking whenever caretakers at the community in Los Gatos, California, schedule a date for residents — many of whom are in their 80s and 90s — to take turns donning virtual reality headsets.

Within a matter of minutes, the headsets can transport them to Europe, immerse them in the ocean depths or soar them on breathtaking hang-gliding expeditions while they sit by each other. The selection of VR programming was curated by Rendever, a company that has turned a sometimes isolating form of technology into a catalyst for better cognition and social connections in 800 retirement communities in the United States and Canada.

A group of The Terraces residents who participated in a VR session earlier this year found themselves paddling their arms alongside their chairs as they swam with a pod of dolphins while watching one of Rendever's 3D programs. “We got to go underwater and didn't even have to hold our breath!” exclaimed 81-year-old Ginny Baird following the virtual submersion.

During a session featuring a virtual ride in a hot-air balloon, one resident gasped, “Oh my God!” Another shuddered, “It's hard to watch!”

The Rendever technology can also be used to virtually take older adults back to the places where they grew up as children. For some, it will be the first time they've seen their hometowns in decades.

A virtual trip to her childhood neighborhood in New York City's Queens borough helped sell Sue Livingstone, 84, on the merits of the VR technology even though she still is able to get out more often than many residents of The Terraces, which is located in Silicon Valley about 55 miles south of San Francisco.

“It isn't just about being able to see it again, it's about all the memories that it brings back,” Livingstone said. “There are a few people living here who never really leave their comfort zones. But if you could entice them to come down to try out a headset, they might find that they really enjoy it.”

Adrian Marshall, The Terraces' community life director, said that once word about a VR experience spreads from one resident to another, more of the uninitiated typically become curious enough to try it out — even if it means missing out on playing Mexican Train, a dominoes-like board game that's popular in the community.

“It turns into a conversation starter for them. It really does connect people,” Marshall said of Rendever's VR programming. “It helps create a human bridge that makes them realize they share certain similarities and interests. It turns the artificial world into reality.”

Rendever, a privately owned company based in Somerville, Massachusetts, hopes to build upon its senior living platform with a recent grant from the National Institutes of Health that will provide nearly $4.5 million to study ways to reduce social isolation among seniors living at home and their caregivers.

Some studies have found VR programming presented in a limited viewing format can help older people maintain and improve cognitive functions, burnish memories and foster social connections with their families and fellow residents of care facilities. Experts say the technology may be useful as an addition to and not a replacement for other activities.

“There is always a risk of too much screen time," Katherine “Kate” Dupuis, a neuropsychologist and professor who studies aging issues at Sheridan College in Canada, said. “But if you use it cautiously, with meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful. It can be an opportunity for the elderly to engage with someone and share a sense of wonder.”

VR headsets may be an easier way for older people to interact with technology instead of fumbling around with a smartphone or another device that requires navigating buttons or other mechanisms, said Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is examining the use of VR with older adults.

“The stereotypes that older adults aren’t willing to try new technology needs to change because they are willing and want to adapt to technologies that are meaningful to them,” Bhowmick said. "Besides helping them to relieve stress, be entertained and connect with other people, there is an intergenerational aspect that might help them build their relationships with younger people who find out they use VR and say, ‘Grandpa is cool!’"

Rendever CEO Kyle Rand's interest in helping his own grandmother deal with the emotional and mental challenges of aging pushed him down a path that led him to cofound the company in 2016 after studying neuroengineering at Duke University.

“What really fascinates me about humans is just how much our brain depends on social connection and how much we learn from others,” Rand said. “A group of elderly residents who don't really know each other that well can come together, spend 30 minutes in a VR experience together and then find themselves sitting down to have lunch together while continuing a conversation about the experience.”

It's a large enough market that another VR specialist, Dallas-based Mynd Immersive, competes against Rendever with services tailored for senior living communities.

Besides helping create social connections, the VR programming from both Rendever and Mynd has been employed as a possible tool for potentially slowing down the deleterious effects of dementia. That's how another Silicon Valley retirement village, the Forum, sometimes uses the technology.

Bob Rogallo, a Forum resident with dementia that has rendered him speechless, seemed to be enjoying taking a virtual hike through Glacier National Park in Montana as he nodded and smiled while celebrating his 83rd birthday with his wife of 61 years.

Sallie Rogallo, who doesn't have dementia, said the experience brought back fond memories of the couple's visits to the same park during the more than 30 years they spent cruising around the U.S. in their recreational vehicle.

“It made me wish I was 30 years younger so I could do it again,” she said of the virtual visit to Glacier. “This lets you get out of the same environment and either go to a new place or visit places where you have been.”

In another session at the Forum, 93-year-old Almut Schultz laughed with delight while viewing a virtual classical music performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and later seemed to want to play with a puppy frolicking around in her VR headset.

“That was quite a session we had there,” Schultz said with a big grin after she took off her headset and returned to reality.

Rendever CEO Kyle Rand is pictured at Salesforce Park in San Francisco on June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Jim Holtshouse and his son, Mike Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Bob Rogallo watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Mike Holtshouse and his father, Jim Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Jim Holtshouse watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)