McLaren says to look at Ricciardo's future 'soon'
May 27 - Daniel Ricciardo looks likely to lose his McLaren seat at the end of 2022.
In February of last year, the Australian revealed that he actually inked a three year deal for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
However, ahead of the Monaco GP the 32-year-old indicated that he intends to negotiate with McLaren about a new deal "before the summer break".
It followed McLaren supremo Zak Brown this week admitting that Ricciardo has not met the team's "expectations" since joining the Woking based team last year.
But when a journalist in Monaco queried Ricciardo as to why he would hold "negotiations" with McLaren when he still has a contract for 2023, he admitted his current deal is actually only for two years.
"It's true," he is quoted by German specialist media, before smiling: "You made me answer a question that didn't need to be answered.
"Maybe I meant the summer of 2023."
If Ricciardo's contract is ending, the names of two potential replacements are already circulating, including McLaren's 23-year-old Indycar driver Pato O'Ward.
Another is American Colton Herta, whose name has been linked with Andretti's 2024 F1 bid.
McLaren CEO Brown, meanwhile, said McLaren is still trying to bring Ricciardo up to full speed.
"He is struggling to find the performances that he and we would like," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "We're working hard so that he can return to normal and show us what he showed us all in Monza last year."
When asked how long McLaren is prepared to wait for Ricciardo's top form, Brown added: "That is a matter for Andreas Seidl.
"Lando has a long-term deal, Daniel a shorter one. I believe that we will start looking towards the future soon."
Russian F1 commentator Match TV expects Ricciardo to be ousted.
"Lando had tonsillitis in Barcelona but he still beat Ricciardo," said the Match TV pundit. "I don't know if it will be Pato O'Ward next year and Herta might be an option too.
"Frankly, the option of extending with Ricciardo looks unlikely."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Unless DR turns up the wick, and even that might not be enough to keep him hes toast, his deals obv a 2yr + 1yr option
Straight 3-year deal based on his own words from last year.
Additionally, these words after the last race.
"I got a contract until the end of 2023.
COVID messed me up, so I just got confused with the years."
He indeed is on a 3-year deal, as he said so himself at one point last year, so nothing to ponder concerning next season.
at that point Zak wasn't going to contradict him.., guys suffering enough, id be amazed if it was a cast iron straight 3yr deal, Ocon got 3yrs but whose actually seen the contract?
Agreed, the total length of the contract is 3yrs, but bound to have options that need to be taken up at some point Imo
And stuffing it the wall in fp2 wont help, he doesnt need to explain as on the radio, he crashed...... thats it
danny ric checked out mentally ages ago
it's hard to keep your enthusiasm up when also keeping things in perspective
so long and thanks for all the fish
wonder if nando and mclaren will make it 3rd times a charm?
OWard deserves a F1 chance.
Would be good to Ricciardo a seat in Arrow McLaren SP.
I think DR may be running out of teams who'll want him. By jumping teams, he shows he has no confidence in the people he works with and my guess is that many teams no longer feel they can depend on him to hang in there and help with the development of their cars. A top-notch driver thinks of his team first and foremost knowing the team will reciprocate in kind. Being the team comedian is not enough.
Nice for an American driver to have a go, but not at RIC's expense. Despite the barrier banging I've still not given up on him this weekend. We'll see.
Leopold, my comment was posted 3 times and I promise I hit the button once. I'm not even drinking...yet.
All this talk about Danny Riciordo being binned at the end of the year will not be helping him at all. if the car is not up to speed how can a driver get good results on track. come on Danny we know you can do it. you won here in Monaco stuck in sixth gear when driving for red Bull. we surport you.
The cars fast enough for Norris, so all hes got to do is drive faster..!
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.