“If the stars align I’d love to go racing with him again,” Zak Brown reflects on the 2 years with Daniel Ricciardo and the ‘tough’ decision to let him go
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Zak Brown talks about the impact of Daniel Ricciardo's exit from McLaren
Zak Brown is the CEO of McLaren, in his tenure leading the British outfit, the 51-year-old has tried to rebuild the team after a downturn in fortune in the last few years. Zak has made major changes at McLaren and the results prove the effectiveness of his actions as the team finally won its first race since 2012, at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. However, Brown was forced to replace the race-winner from that day, Daniel Ricciardo due to the Australian’s poor performances.
Recently in an interview on McLaren’s YouTube channel, Zak Brown talked about Ricciardo’s stay in the team and the difficulty in making the decision to replace the Australian. When asked about the impact of Daniel’s exit from the Woking-based team, Zak mentioned it being a tough time, considering Danny Ric is a fun person who is loved by everyone, Brown said, “It’s tough, we all love Daniel, he’s a great spirit in the garage on the radio and in the MTC (McLaren Technology Center). Sometimes things don’t work out.”
Zak elaborated on struggles faced by McLaren and Ricciardo calling the reason behind it a big unknown as the Australian has always been considered as one of the more talented drivers on the F1 paddock while also mentioning Danny Ric’s incredible drive to victory in Italy last year. Zak Brown stated, “and it’s a great mystery he definitely has the talent he showed us that in Monza, he won 8 Grands Prix and that’s not won because everyone got wiped in turn 1 at Monza, he took the lead and he was gone so that was frustrating for all of us.”
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Zak Brown opens up on the decision to replace Danny Ric
The 2021 Italian Grand Prix is embedded in Brown’s memory as the most iconic result in his long journey in motorsports for which the 51-year-old expressed his gratitude to Ricciardo, Zak said, “But the memory of Monza is to date my favorite memory in my thirty years in motorsports and I gotta thank Daniel for that and I very much hope to see him on the grid again in F1.” The American was also not shy of the possibility of Daniel Ricciardo rejoining Mclaren in any of its racing endeavors, stating, “the door remains open for him to be in some McLaren in the future. If the stars align I’d love to go racing with him again.”
Zak also opened up about the media backlash during the rumors around this decision calling it a “very tough year.” The 51-year-old mentioned about public perception being a major challenge while taking such decisions and said, “The challenging part is being judged by people who aren’t really close to it.” The McLaren CEO stated the right of everyone to have an opinion but acknowledged the fact that the world will not know the reasons for such a decision, Zak Brown expressed, “Everyone has an opinion and that’s fine and that’s sport. you just need to be grounded in. I know what really happened.”
Zak Brown pointed out how there was a transparent and healthy relationship between Ricciardo and the team, and how the portrayal in the media was a lot harsher than the reality, Zak said, “I know the relationship that I really have with Daniel and his management how transparent it was and how collaborative it was and it wasn’t easy on anyone but it wasn’t what a lot of people made it out to be.” Brown recognized the fact that the people involved knew why it was done, stating, “and that’s frustrating because you kinda unfairly get accused of certain actions which you know and he knows and those that are close to it know that’s actually not what really happened.”
The choice to replace the fan-favorite Daniel Ricciardo was never gonna be a popular one. But Zak knew what had to be done, Danny Ric had been consistently out-raced by teammate Lando Norris in his entire two years at the British team and this cost the team 4th place in the Constructors’ Championship this year. As such this could not have continued, it was affecting the team as a whole and McLaren needed a new start, and that’s where the rookie Oscar Piastri comes in as the right fit, and we hope to see the Woking-based team excel in the future.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2348 Articles Published)