Daniel Ricciardo didn’t get permission from Red Bull in 2015 to work with his future team principal Andreas Seidl

Daniel Ricciardo didn’t get permission to work with his future team principal Andres Seidl back in 2015 for Le Mans with Porsche.

Daniel Ricciardo who is going to join hands with McLaren after the completion of this season, and it would be for the first time when both of them would be working with each other.

Only if Red Bull hadn’t been there, things could have been different, back in 2014 they first made contact for Le Mans 2015, as the Australian was offered to compete for Porsche back then reveals Ricciardo.

“Andreas is a guy that I do really look forward to working with,” Ricciardo said to Motorsport. “I was first in contact with him I think back in 2014. There was a bit of a push to try and do Le Mans at the time with Porsche and there were a few small talks.”

“I’ve heard people who have worked with him speak very highly and I’m looking forward to that. I’ll keep being a sponge and trying to make myself better

As mentioned above, things couldn’t proceed, as Red Bull didn’t allow Ricciardo to go for Le Mans. Seidl confirmed the incident and said now with the 31-year-old driver joining McLaren he is even more excited to work with him.

“Yeah, we had some conversations back in the day,” Seidl said. “Unfortunately he didn’t get the permission at that time to join the project. I think that would have been an interesting experience for us but also for him. The car he was supposed to drive actually won Le Mans.

“Daniel was always a driver I was following throughout his entire F1 career. I always liked his performance on-track, but also the way how he comes across as a person outside of the car with his positivity, which is something very important for me also to have within the team.

“I’m simply happy that it finally worked out for next year, and I’m looking forward once he’s joined us in January.”

McLaren move is an exciting venture for Daniel Ricciardo

The outgoing Renault driver has confessed that he has seen immense potential in this team, especially the commendable rise they made after a series of setbacks in 2018.

Under the current resources, McLaren is now a force to be reckoned with and could be the dark horses with next season, as they seem to have a good balance of experience and youth in Ricciardo and Lando Norris.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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