Daniel Ricciardo has gained an important support inside McLaren in the person of team boss Andreas Seidl, who pointed out that the Australian has a contract until next year
After receiving open criticism from McLaren CEO Zak Brown, Daniel Ricciardo has gained important support from within the Woking team in the person of Andreas Seidl. To Sky Germany in Baku, the boss of the English team said that he feels obliged to defend the team members, including the Australian driver - whom Seidl was keen to emphasize still has a guaranteed contract until 2023.
Ricciardo has come under public challenge because of the difference in performance between him and Lando Norris in the 2022 Formula One season. While the Englishman has 48 points and has even been to the podium, the #3 car has only finished in the top ten on two occasions: in Australia and in the sprint race in Emilia-Romagna, both races completed in sixth.
Despite the underwhelming results, Seidl stressed that "Formula One is a team sport." "For me, it doesn't matter whether it's mechanics, engineers or the driver himself. It's important that we have in our internal culture a lot of clarity about the things that need to be improved," he said.
Seidl also pointed out that as a team manager, he understands that his job is to "protect the team from the outside world," and amended, "In the last 20 years, I haven't seen any driver become faster after being publicly criticized."
Regarding 2023, there is much speculation as to whether Ricciardo will remain at the Woking base, especially after Brown said that the Australian's contract has mechanisms that allowed for a termination. A strong name on the market is Pierre Gasly, who has already signaled that he has his eye on all possibilities beyond a renewal with AlphaTauri. There are also those who see Pato O'Ward, McLaren's reprensentant in Indy, as a good option.
Seidl was asked about the matter and confirmed that Ricciardo still has a deal in place. "We have a contract with Daniel for next year and that's why we are calm, working hard and trying to find the percentages that he has been missing at this moment," he concluded.