Ricciardo offered 'we'll keep him busy' opportunity by US GP boss

Circuit of the Americas F1 boss Bobby Epstein has offered Daniel Ricciardo an opportunity to "keep busy" over the United States Grand Prix weekend.

Ricciardo lost his RB seat to Liam Lawson after Singapore, with the New Zealander partnering Yuki Tsunoda for the remaining six races of the year.

Australian Ricciardo is regarded as one of the most popular drivers both in Austin and the United States as a whole, partly due to the Netflix Drive to Survive success, but there has been no indication of Ricciardo planning to travel to Texas over the October 18-20 weekend.

But Epstein believes Ricciardo, who took two third places in 2014 and 2016 as his best Austin results, still has the chance to offer something "meaningful" for fans.

"Daniel may be able to have just as big of an impact out of the car as he has in it at our grand prix," Epstein is quoted as saying by ESPN.

"I'm not sure that necessarily people are buying tickets to come see him race if he's not in a competitive car, right? So if you're coming because he's part of the the F1 community, I think he can still be part of the F1 community in a pretty meaningful way.

"He's really, really loved in Texas, and I think he likes it here. 

"I would hope that he makes himself available more to the fans than he would otherwise be if he had an obligation in the car.

"I hope he's still coming here because we got a lot of people that would love to shake his hand or get his autograph or take a picture. Just see him around town. We'll keep him busy."