Zak Brown is a racing man, racing men don’t mince their words thus when the McLaren boss stated that Daniel Ricciardo was not delivering he received flack from some quarters but he was right on the money, and the song remains the same: match Lando Norris.
The headline summarises what all F1 drivers have to do: beat their teammate or at least run him very close; before Ricciardo wins anything he has to beat his precocious teammate Lando Norris, ten years his junior, if he can’t come close he has to move on, contract or not some expect.
Say what you like about Brown, he knows racing, he knows teams, he knows history, he knows drivers, knows marketing but by his own admission knows little about the technical side, and that’s why he got former BMW and Porsche management guru Andreas Seidl to do the what’s required in the garage.
Thereafter Brown was criticised for adding pressure on Ricciardo, the American explained during an interview with Fox Motorsports: “It was just an honest answer, it wasn’t meant to be critical.
“It doesn’t mean we don’t think he can win us more races, it doesn’t mean we’re not trying unbelievably hard — quite the opposite; I know he can win us more races, we’re trying unbelievably hard.
“But given his resume and how Lando’s going, do we expect him to be right next to Lando, whether that’s right in front or right behind? Yeah, and so does he. And we’re going to get there. We’re totally committed to it,” insisted the McLaren CEO.
Brown: Ricciardo will be with McLaren in 2023
Asked if Ricciardo will remain until the end of next year when his contract ends, Brown insisted: “Oh yeah. He’s a fighter, and his results since we’ve said that — that’s not how they were intended.”
Ironically Ricciardo is in a similar position he put Sebastian Vettel in when they were teammates at Red Bull; the Australian getting the better of the German and the latter leaving for Ferrari.
Daniil Kvyat was easy meat for Dan, but when the promoted Max Verstappen it all went pear shaled for Ricciardo, who faced a future as number two to the Dutch ace favoured by Red Bull, or move on. He moved on the Renault which might be pinpointed as the beginning of his downfall.
Red Bull might have been banking on Max, but Ricciardo was in a good place with them to pick up the pieces, even Nico Rosberg won a F1 world title as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, furthermore it was clear that Verstappen was special, and indeed he is among the best, if not the best of this generation.
A great benchmark for any driver, did Dan do a runner?
Whatever the case, Ricciardo ditched all that (including Adrian Newey!) and sold his soul Renault under Cyril Abioteboul – a team motivated by whether their boss got a tattoo or not! But the money was good for the Honey Badger who also wanted to be very rich.
Thus no big surprise that when the boys from Woking came knocking for 2020 it was a match made in heaven, (with good money now seen as too much) Mercedes power and a team with ambition and by the looks of things then ready to step up to the premier division where Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull play.
To shrink Ricciardo’s one and a half years at McLaren into one word: disappointing
For a guy who peppered his CV with 29 podiums for Red Bull, seven times a winner in five seasons with Red Bull; in the four since then, Ricciardo has a mere three podiums, one of them a gimme victory at Monza last year.
In 33 races, as a McLaren driver, 33-year-old Ricciardo has not delivered on expectations, too many times he is soundly beaten by 22-year-old Norris in just about every session.
The new F1 cars are simply not to his liking or he can’t get his head around the McLaren MCL36, or both, as the score at the halfway mark of this season testifies: Norris is seventh on 64 points, and Ricciardo is 12th on 17; it’s a demolishen job by the younger driver on the old guy
But Brown sees the upside of having big smiling Dan in the team: “We love working with him. He loves the team. We’ve seen when we give him a car that’s capable of winning, he can win in it.
“As he said last year, he didn’t feel he had a good season last year and he still won. So it’s in there. We’ve just got to figure out how to unlock it, give him a car that he’s more comfortable with.”
Brown: It’s the same answer Daniel has given and would give, which is we’re not where we want to be
As for Brown’s perceived public criticism of Ricciardo, Jenson Button was one of the pundits who questioned the strategy: “I saw one of our former grand prix drivers went, ‘Well, we all know it; I can’t believe he said it’. Well, if we all know it, then what’s the big deal that I said it?
“I know it caused a lot of ripples outside [but] Daniel and I have a great relationship. We had dinner in London not too long after that. We’re trading WhatsApps all the time. Someone asked me a question and I gave them an honest answer.
“On the flip side, if I would’ve said, ‘No, everything’s great’, I think someone would’ve said, ‘Really, you’re happy with 12th?’. Of course I’m not happy with 12th.”
While Ricciardo’s failings are well documented, so too are Norris’ impressive exploits in the same car the young Briton is to McLaren what Verstappen is to Red Bull and Charles Leclerc to Ferrari: “We were fortunate to find Lando at a young age, so he’s been in our system.
“He’s definitely a future F1 world champion. We just need to give him a car that’s capable of winning races, and then he’ll start winning races.
“I tried to get Daniel in our car a couple of years ago — he ended up going to Renault, then we took another run at him again, this time around successfully.
“Who are the best drivers that have the most talent on the track, that we’ll enjoy working with, that our racing team will enjoy working with, our fans will like, our sponsors will like? I think we have that with Daniel and Lando,” declared Brown, whose team is building an impressive line-up of drivers to step up if need be.
As for Ricciardo, it’s crystal clear: as it says above, McLaren expects him to be right next to Norris. Simple.