Daniel Ricciardo has struggled at times since joining McLaren at the start of the 2021 season, despite winning the Italian Grand Prix that year, with the Australian driver finishing in the top 10 only four times in the first 11 races this season. Daniel Ricciardo is currently 12th in the drivers’ championship, with 17 points, behind teammate Lando Norris, who is seventh with 64 points.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said on Sky Sports’ Any Driven Monday show in May, “Short of [Ricciardo’s] victory at Monza and a few races, it’s generally not met his or our expectations, as far as what we were hoping for“.
However, Brown recently clarified his remarks, stating that his and Ricciardo’s relationship had “never been better,” and that the onus was on McLaren to provide Ricciardo and Norris with a car that would allow them to compete at the front of the grid.
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Ricciardo’s remarks come after McLaren gave IndyCar star Colton Herta a two-day test as part of their Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme, during which he drove their 2021-spec McLaren MCL35 around Portugal’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao – with some viewing the American driver as a potential McLaren F1 driver of the future.
McLaren has also signed IndyCar champion Alex Palou for 2023 but has not said in which category the Spaniard would race. The constructor has a team in the all-electric Formula E series in addition to F1 and IndyCar, as well as the electric off-road Extreme E category. Palou’s contract includes some seat time in an F1 test and the 25-year-old said in McLaren’s statement announcing his deal that he was “excited to be able to show what I can do behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car and looking at what doors that may open”.
