“We’ll see how things develop,” McLaren hint at Daniel Ricciardo’s early departure from the team.
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Zack Brown (Left) & Daniel Ricciardo (Right)
Daniel Ricciardo signed his deal with McLaren at the start of the 2021 season until the end of the 2023 season, and although the Australian has at times, proved to be a terrific driver, since he joined McLaren, the scenario has been quite different.
Ricciardo scored a victory in Monza, Italy, 2021 where Lando Norris, his teammate, finished right behind him. This was the only time when Ricciardo “made a return”, since then and before that, Daniel has been struggling to drive the car competitively.
Watch: “Lando definitely has an edge” ? | Zak Brown on the inter-team battle between Norris and Ricciardo
Even in the 2022 season, Daniel is struggling to score a few points to carry on, with his highest finish being 6th in Australia until now. Though his contract stays till the end of the 2023 season, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has been “hinting” to end the deal early because of the mistakes he has been making.
The car has been somewhat competitive as Lando Norris was able to score even a podium in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and at the same time Daniel Ricciardo finished last on the grid.
Brown also stated earlier that the former Red Bull driver was not meeting the expectations of the team, and Ricciardo had reportedly agreed to the same.
Also read: “Hasn’t met our expectations” : McLaren CEO Zak Brown applies pressure on Daniel Ricciardo
“I’ve spoken with Daniel about it,” Brown implies his expectations
The McLaren CEO said that he had talked with Daniel about the current situations and about the team’s expectations from him. He also said that the Australian has the capability to win races, as he showed in Italy in 2021.
“I’ve spoken with Daniel about it, we’re not getting the results that we both hoped for, but we’re both going to continue to push,” The Race quotes Zak Brown.
“I think he showed at Monza he can win races. We also need to continue to develop our race car, it’s not capable of winning races, but we’d like to see him further up the grid.
“We’ll just play it – I don’t want to say ‘one race at a time’ because we’re not going to one race at a time – but we’ll just see how things develop, what he wants to do.”
Ricciardo even crashed during FP2 in Monaco, though he was perfectly alright, but the car had taken some damage. He stands 12th with 11 points, tied along with Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri.
Also read: Monaco GP: Daniel Ricciardo crashes hard into the barrier bringing out red flag in FP2
Also read: McLaren pay touching tribute to Ayrton Senna by putting his name on all of their cars
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Gunaditya Tripathi
(274 Articles Published)