The Curious Case Of Daniel Ricciardo
This year we may be witnessing a changing of the guard on both sides of the Atlantic with the next generation of stars really shinning in both Formula 1 and IndyCar. Formula 1 is seeing the likes of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris really shine, and in IndyCar we have Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward amongst a host of other bright young stars really shinning. Whilst this transition is happening the old dogs of Lewis Hamilton in F1 and Scott Dixon in IndyCar are putting up a hell of a fight that is likely to go right to the last race in both series. With one of the most outstanding performances of the last few seasons Lando Norris has really cemented himself in the McLaren team and in F1 with his outstanding performances and consistency this year.
This all means that some of the teammates of these younger drivers are appearing to be out of sorts when compared to their teammates, which by this stage of the season may be making team bosses a little uneasy. The most notable of these performance gaps is at McLaren with the performance difference between Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. I think going into this season, especially with his performances of 2020, we expected Daniel Ricciardo to be at least a match for Lando Norris. With Ricciardo on a multi-year deal it will leave McLaren in a very frustrating position going forwards if they aren’t able to get him up to speed.
Why he’s not able to get up to speed could be one of many factors, which I’ve covered in my previous article. I don’t know the details of Ricciardo’s deal so McLaren may have limited options outside of just riding it out and signing someone else. I’m sure they have already thought about some options if Daniel doesn’t get up to speed, some of which already exist in the McLaren family. We mustn’t ignore the fact that he has improved a lot over the course of the season, but should he not continue to improve let’s take a look at the options McLaren have.
RICCIARDO & O’WARD SEAT SWAP
Many F1 fans may not realise that McLaren has a collaboration wth Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in IndyCar who runs the Arrow McLaren SP team. Schmidt Peterson has been around in IndyCar since 2001 and has seen some success over the years with the occasional podium and win. In 2019 the high profile merger with McLaren started to turn the fortunes of this midfield IndyCar team. Now in 2021 they are emerging as the next big team in IndyCar competing well against the ‘big three’ of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi and Andretti Autosport.
With McLaren’s involvement they have also taken the same approach of giving young talent a go, which makes sense as every champion and sporting legend started out as a promising young talent. In F1 McLaren have obviously uncovered Lando Norris and given him a platform to showcase his very best. The same can also be said for their driver Pato O’Ward in IndyCar. With multiple IndyCar wins under his belt and 2nd in the standings ahead of Indy legend Scott Dixon, he has really got McLaren CEO Zac Brown excited about what he could do in the future. His first IndyCar win at the Texas Motor Speedway was rewarded with drive in F1’s end of season young driver test in Abu Dhabi. A strong showing here could leave Zac Brown with some very tough decisions to make on McLaren’s future F1 driver lineup.
One very simple option for McLaren F1 that’s easier said than done would be to simply swap Pato O’Ward with Daniel Ricciardo should he perform well in the young driver test. As the young driver test takes place immediately after the Abu Dhabi grand prix it gives them plenty of data to measure the performance of drivers in the test against the teams regular drivers. By this time we will have a clearer picture of how Ricciardo is progressing in the McLaren. If by the end of this year Ricciardo hasn’t drastically improved to Norris’ level then I’m not sure that he ever will. Considering he is on a three year deal McLaren would be seriously looking at their options on what they can do to move Ricciardo on and get O’Ward in the seat.
McLaren obviously see value in Ricciardo, otherwise they wouldn’t have signed him so by simply swapping him with O’Ward it means that he stays in the McLaren family. Then they can still keep him on board for all their marketing and extra-curricular activities that he is very valuable for. I’m not sure as to the nature of the contracts and wether the drivers sign a contract with the McLaren group, or if they sign specifically with the F1 and IndyCar teams. Either way it would be a much simpler process than having to bring in an outside driver and then release Ricciardo. Ricciardo has also expressed a desire to compete in the Indy 500 and LeMans, so this could work out amicably for all parties. It’s also with noting that Zac Brown also owns United Autosports, who competes in the World Endurance Championship.
RELEASE RICCIARDO
If McLaren are really unimpressed with Daniel Ricciardo’s form after a certain time then the other option is to release him entirely. This option would be a lot more messy and costly for McLaren and considering the alternative options available within the McLaren family, I doubt this will happen. Also McLaren’s financial position may not allow this to happen, as they may need to pay out the rest of his contract. At a reported $17 million per year, this would put a serious dent into their finances.
The details of the driver contracts are confidential, and rightly so, but McLaren or any racing team for that matter would be bonkers not to include a performance based clause in driver contracts. By putting this in there it saves the team the very costly alternative of having to pay out the drivers contract. This last happened in 2010 when Ferrari paid Kimi Raikkonen a reported $50 million for the season, even though he was not involved in a single race. This wasn’t a performance issue but rather an issue where he was unwanted by the team for that season.
If McLaren were to release Ricciardo then it would leave him with limited options to continue in F1. Most of the competitive seats in F1 are taken for the next few years, and those that aren’t have a young driver ready in the wings. With that in mind Ricciardo’s F1 future will be determined by his performance in the next 12-18 months. With a huge change to technical regulations in 2022, and thus the way the cars are driven, I think McLaren would be a little silly to let him go before 2022. If the lacklustre performances continue into 2022 then the reality may be that Ricciardo’s F1 career may be over, or at least over at McLaren.
I do hope that Ricciardo can sort out his form going forwards. He’s a unique character in F1 and when competitive is one of the few drivers that brings the complete package. He’s able to bring driving skills, development nous along with commitment to off track activities such as marketing and online online content for himself and the team. I’m sure that if he was lost to F1 then another series like IndyCar would welcome hime with open arms and hugely benefit from his involvement. One thing that is for sure, is that he’ll leave his mark no matter where he goes.
