McLaren’s Zak Brown has explained that he has to make the difficult resolution of updating Daniel Ricciardo for the 2023 season.
The Australian powerforce had a contract with McLaren for the 2023 championship, but lost its seat with the Woking-based team after the resolution taken to pay Ricciardo and bring in compatriot Oscar Piastri.
Eight-time Grand Prix winner Ricciardo never discovered his feet with McLaren in his two years with the team; in addition to a remarkable victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo has fought for consistency and speed alongside his less experienced teammate, Lando Norris.
While Ricciardo’s popularity within the team remains intact, CEO Zak Brown said a complicated resolution is mandatory, as it has become transparent that the effects do not justify its continuation.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t get the effects we needed and it had been a year and a half,” Brown told Fox Sports Australia.
“We all try incredibly hard. We love Daniel, it’s wonderful to paint with him and he still is. But we’re in the effects box and the effects came and we felt like we’d tried everything. “
“We don’t know why he didn’t click, it’s nobody’s fault. We did our best, he did the best he could. . . We just ran out of things to try. Sometimes athletes give in or want to replace their environment. “
Ricciardo has yet to find a seat in F1 by 2023, a race seat is out of place, according to the Australian. His most productive hope in F1 lately seems to be a reserve position within the Mercedes team, there is no confirmation of such an agreement yet.
Brown revealed that staying with McLaren had been an option for Ricciardo, but not in F1. The American explained that he “hated” the fact that Ricciardo simply did not integrate into the team, after looking to protect the former Red Bull powertrain before he left for Renault at the end of 2018.
I’m still a big fan of Daniel and that’s never going to change,” Brown said.
“I asked him if he wanted to drive for us in IndyCar or Formula E. . . I would like Daniel to remain in the family circle, but he is still very focused on Formula 1, which I think is the pinnacle of motorsport. “I would like to race with him again.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve had in my time in motorsport. It wasn’t nice, it wasn’t fun. “
“But my job, with Andreas [Seidl, McLaren F1 team principal], is to make the tough decisions and, since we haven’t really noticed any progress, it was like, ‘Well, I think we just have to make a replacement for any of our interests and put it on a stage where I can be competitive again and in an F1 car wherever I end up racing. ‘But (it was) a big disappointment. “
According to Brown, her relationship with Ricciardo remains friendly and cooperative, and there will be no animosity when the two split in a few weeks.
That’s because he opened the lines of communication in the negotiation phase, according to Brown, who praised Ricciardo for being a “total professional” throughout.
“We’ve been transparent in the procedure and I know there were tons of hypotheses in the media about when this happened and how it happened,” Brown said.
“Daniel and I know what happened and I think that’s why we still have a strong relationship.
“Everything is transparent, well communicated and there are times when we can tell other people what’s going on and other times we just can’t. The most important thing for me is when Daniel and I see each other, we each give each other a big hug and we have 4 races ahead and we will give everything we have.
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