McLaren’s boss Zak Brown said the team offered Daniel Ricciardo a switch to race in the US’s IndyCar championship for the 2023 season.
McLaren has decided to terminate Daniel Ricciardo’s contract early. The driver will leave the $20 Million a year role at the end of the 2022 season.
McLaren will mostly offer the seat to fellow Australian and reigning F2 champion Oscar Piastri. But the British team were not keen on letting Ricciardo leave.
There was an offer for Ricciardo to race in McLaren’s IndyCar team. McLaren entered the championship in 2020, collaborating with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
They acquired a majority stake in the team in 2021. Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist currently drive for the IndyCar team.
And Ricciardo would have been a possible replacement for Rosenqvist. And McLaren F1’s CEO Zak Brown confirmed, “Yes, we spoke about that.”
He added, “As Andreas said, he’s an exceptional racing driver. And any team that he drives for is so privileged to have Daniel drive for them, and we do have a variety of racing activities. But, that being said, he’s very focused on F1.”
Ricciardo said in his video statement that he still has the fire in his belly to perform at the highest level. And he will still love F1 and want to be a part of the sport for as long as he can.
Ricciardo declined the offer and is yet to decide on his next racing venture. He will be hearing more from potential teams in the weeks to come.
Poor results led to Daniel Ricciardo’s exit
Daniel Ricciardo did not enjoy a great time at McLaren. He was out-qualified and out-performed by teammate Lando Norris. The poor results inevitably led to his early exit.
In fact, Ricciardo has so far managed to score points on only 5 of the first 13 races. He currently stands 12th in the 2022 F1 Driver’s standings with just 19 points. And he trails Norris by 57 points.
He did enjoy some highs like in the 2021 Italian GP where he gave McLaren their first win since 2012. But the Aussie lacked the pace and consistency to allow McLaren to fight for the odd podiums.
Zak Brown said, “I think he understands that we weren’t able to put together the results that we’d hoped for. He’s been around motor racing his entire life. So he understands this and is as disappointed as we are that it didn’t work out.”
While team Principal Andreas Seidl Seidl accepted that has to take responsibility for not giving Ricciardo a car he could compete with. And thus decided it was better to make an early change by ending the contract with the Aussie early.
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