The door at McLaren “will always be open” for Daniel Ricciardo to race in other series outside Formula 1, CEO Zak Brown says.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed driver and team had “mutually agreed” to part ways at the end of 2022 after two difficult years for the Australian since joining from Renault at the start of 2021.
However, during talks, the McLaren chief revealed the possibility of Ricciardo racing in IndyCar next year was discussed.
“We spoke about that,” Brown told reporters. “He’s an exceptional racing driver, any team he drives for it’s a privilege to have Daniel drive for you.
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“We do have a variety of racing activities. That being said, he’s very focused on F1.
“So of course, the door will always be open here at McLaren, but I believe that he has a real desire to continue in F1.”
Crash.net quotes AP as reporting a figure of £15m has been paid to Ricciardo by the Woking-based team to end his contract early and vacate his seat, likely for fellow countryman Oscar Piastri.
And Brown admits the fact McLaren had to dig into their pockets to drop the eight-time Grand Prix winner is a lesson he needs to learn from.
“My one learning there would be contractual, I don’t think we could have done something differently to make him more competitive,” he said.
“We tried all that. I think we’ve had to end the relationship early, we’ve had to write a big cheque. Which is fine, because that’s the deal that we cut.
“But I think what I’ll do differently next time is maybe have some more performance protections for us and not just assume that great drivers can always be great.”
As part of the settlement, McLaren could have forced Ricciardo to sit on the sidelines in 2023, but…
“It was never a discussion between Andreas [Seidl, McLaren F1 boss] and I, nor Daniel, to consider not allowing him to race in any other form of motorsport next year,” Brown said via The Race.
“And we hope he does. He’s a friend of the family and always will be.
“Restricting a racing driver from racing cars is nothing that McLaren would ever do.”