“We had our challenges”: McLaren boss Zak Brown blames Daniel Ricciardo for disappointing fifth place finish in 2022

Back in 2020, it seemed like McLaren was going to be a race-winning team in F1 in the coming few years. The duo of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris was strong, and they secured a brilliant P3 finish ahead of Renault (now Alpine) and Racing Point (now Aston Martin). In 2021, however, we saw some weaknesses within the team, especially with the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo to the team.

While Norris guided the team to four podium finishes and a string of consistent performances, Ricciardo struggled to match him. The Aussie did win the Italian GP, which was McLaren’s first race win since 2012, but other than that, he didn’t have many talking points. In 2021, they were in the battle for third with Ferrari, which they lost in the end.

2022, meanwhile, turned out to be an even bigger disappointment for McLaren. Their car was not as strong as the previous years’, and Alpine stepped up their game. On top of that, Ricciardo’s form didn’t particularly improve, which led to Alpine taking P4 in the Title. For McLaren, it was a disastrous P5 in the Championship Standings.

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Daniel Ricciardo not performing led to McLaren’s downfall in 2022

In an interview with Speedcafe, McLaren CEO Zak Brown was talking about the team’s aspirations for 2023. Brown wasn’t happy with their overall performance in 2022, but he also recognized the encouraging signs. He pointed out Norris’ P3 finish in Imola as a highlight but went on to criticize Ricciardo thereafter.

“We had our challenges,” he said. “We definitely had some good weekends. A nice podium by Lando. Then, of course, we really struggled to come to grips with Daniel to maximize his performance. So as you guys are well aware that was difficult through, really, the entire season in the media that was around that.”

Midway into the 2022 season, it was revealed that Ricciardo won’t continue with the team in 2023. The Perth-born made a return to Red Bull as a reserve driver and will spend 2023 as a reserve driver for the Milton-Keynes-based outfit. Meanwhile, Ricciardo’s compatriot Oscar Piastri will join Norris at McLaren, as they aim to make bigger strides in next season.

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McLaren targeting P4 in 2023, says Brown

Brown is not expecting McLaren to get back to winning ways in 2023. Instead, his main focus is to help the Woking-based team to close the gap to the front-runners, which as of now are Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

Brown highlights Mercedes in particular as their benchmark for measuring if things are going right for them or not. This is because of the team’s recent dominance, and also the fact that they supply engines to them.

“We have two data points that we pay most attention to,” Brown added. “One is how close are we to the the team that’s winning and, if that team is not Mercedes, our other data point. Given what a great team Mercedes is and we share the same engine, is how close are we to Mercedes.”