(Motorsport) McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo have reached a mutual agreement for the early termination of the Australian’s contract. The 33 year old has struggled for form since joining McLaren in 2021, consistently being outperformed by his teammate Lando Norris. His existing contract was valid until 2023 and Ricciardo had previously reiterated that he intended to stay with the Formula 1 team. However, with news of the early termination of Ricciardo’s contract, McLaren are now linked with Oscar Piastri and are rumoured to already have an agreement with the driver, subject to clearance by the FIA's Contract Recognition Board.
Eight time race winner Daniel Ricciardo said “It's been a privilege to be a part of the McLaren Racing family for the last two seasons. Following several months of discussions with Zak & Andreas we have decided to terminate my contract with the team early and agree to mutually part ways at the end of this season. I'll be announcing my own future plans in due course but regardless of what this next chapter brings, I have no regrets and am proud of the effort and work I gave McLaren, especially the win in Monza, last season. I've never been more motivated to compete and be a part of a sport that I love so much and look forward to what comes next.”
Ricciardo arrived in McLaren with high expectations, especially after his performances with Red Bull Racing and being the team leader at Renault. However, there have been few highs during his spell at McLaren, one of which was winning the Italian GP last year. McLaren CEO Zak Brown had previously stated that the driving was not meeting the team’s expectations and that parting ways with Ricciardo was the “saddest” decision he has had to make in his Formula 1 career. A statement released by McLaren read “McLaren Racing and Daniel Ricciardo have mutually agreed that Daniel will leave the team at the end of the 2022 season. The team thanks Daniel for his dedication and contribution, including that memorable win in Monza. We look forward to finishing the season strongly together.”
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said that all parties were in agreement that the relationship was not working. He said “It's obviously not a secret that if you look at the 18 months we've worked together so far, we didn't achieve the results we wanted to achieve together. Despite being able to have some real highlights like the win last year in Monza, despite all the effort he has put in and the commitment, despite all the work we have put in on our side, we just couldn't achieve the results that we wanted to achieve together. That's why Zak and myself had a lot of conversations in the last month with Daniel, just to be transparent and clear on where we are on both sides. In the end, unfortunately we didn't really make it work and that's why we wanted to go for a change next year."
When asked about his decision to part ways with Ricciardo, McLaren CEO Zak Brown said “Yes, certainly during my time at McLaren (it was the saddest decision). Daniel's a wonderful person and a great person to be around. We've had many laughs, we've sprayed champagne together and it's very personal. Today is a sad day – that things didn't work out as we hoped they would. I'm going to look back with some very fond memories, some fun times together on and off the track. We're in a business where Andreas and everyone here at McLaren, we need to focus on ultimate performance, and we hope and wish Daniel the best. There's absolutely no ill-will between us. It's all very amicable. And I think he too has had a good time at McLaren. He's still young, so we hope to see him in a competitive racing car. And one of these days we might see him being a pian for us on the racetrack, and that will be fun because he's a good competitor.”
When asked about the drivers line up for 2023, Zak Brown said “It'll definitely be (confirmed) before the first race of next year. We're totally focused on Daniel at the moment, then we're going to shift to being totally focused on going racing this weekend, and we're going to step aside from any commentary or speculation on who the driver might be or what type of driver might be or where they come from. I recognise everyone is eager to understand what our plans are, but we'll announce that in due course. We just want to focus now on having a successful weekend in Spa."
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