Did Zak Brown Screw Over Daniel Ricciardio?

The current pandemonium surrounding the Formula One drivers market for 2022/23 continues to heat up as news breaks about the role Zak Brown from McLaren has played in the likely downfall of Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardio.

Brown has apparently approached Oscar Piastri at Alpine indicating that he wanted Piastri to drive for McLaren.

At the same time Brown was telling the worlds media that McLaren were working with Ricciardio to help him sort out the issues relating to his performance in the McLaren car.

All is not fair and love and war, and when millions of dollars are at stake, a mans word means nothing. Ricciardio appears now to be left high and drive without a possible seat in F1 for the remainder of 2022 or in 2023 and beyond.

#formula1 #zakbrown #mclaren

[deanhirasawa]

He is making $20 MILLION this year and has done essentially nothing in return. At least last year he got a strategy win at Monza for the $20 million pay cheque.

[missourimongoose]

I don't think any team would be happy paying someone 20 million for a guy in the lower midfield

[cooke]

You forget the team orders given to Lando. He had the pace to pass Riccardo in Monza.

[xXMINIJARVISXx]

Ricciardo is not as good as Norris. Yes he's won a race but he's not even been close to Norris this or last year

[mcleanF]

Ricciardo has been horrible. Most overpaid driver on the market. When compared to teammates, one can easily make the case that Ricciardo has been the worst driver on the grid. While McLaren is not showing a ton of loyalty to him, Ricciardo is not very loyal himself. He bailed on RedBull, and then bailed on Renault. He also turned down McLaren in 2018. There is no need for McLaren to be so loyal to him especially when he hasn't held up his end of the bargain at all.

[addsfour]

If Daniel has a contract for next year, then he still gets paid. Hard to see how you get screwed when you get paid millions for doing nothing in 2023

[samszulman]

Alpine is still a possiblity as I do not think he burned his bridges. Zac Brown had shown his colours as soon as he took over at McLaren and this was no surprise. Lando has always had the priority at the team and although he's very, very good, Daniel has been poorly treated. Personally, the behavior of Oscar Piastri is really poor considering Alpine/Renault paved the way for him to get to F1.

[JatinderKumar-pvhx]

Riccardo has best positioned if he joins alpine, he's finding it difficult with Maclaren.

[oldfossil]

the bottom line is it is an ordinary midfield car Lando has had 4 years with the team, now on a long term deal so naturally the car is more suited to his driving style ..Daniel missed a chunk of testing in pre season with covid and still cannot come to terms with its front end ... i hope he leaves McLaren ASAP and gets another drive elsewhere and if not gets his payout and goes off too do other things .. the fact is he made a huge career mistake leaving Red Bull 4 years ago

[dynomiterecords]

He has been consistently .2 to .4 SLOWER than Norris for the last 30 odd races. F1 is a cut throat business where if you are being flogged by your team mate you lose your seat. Contracts require cooperation and performance between both parties.

[jefflowther]

I think snake weber has done a deal to push daniel out and get his boy in

[johnhill]

Just another Ricciardo fan with a poisonous agenda, F1 is a business, if a staff member isn’t performing then they go, I’m frankly surprised they gave him this long, I can’t think of another team who would. I think Zak Brown has been incredibly patient, his chief responsibility is to shareholders and sponsors, going from third in the constructors in 2019 to a potential 5th this year mainly because Ricciardo can’t keep up with Norris.
As for sabotage, wake up you fool, what company sabotages their main money making effort?
The hate from the Ricciardo fans to the team, Brown, Seidl, Norris and long term McLaren fans is the worst I’ve seen since I started following McLaren in 1972. I used to enjoy watching Ricciardo race, enjoyed his personality off track, now I wish he’d go and take his toxic fan base with him. Tired of his failure and his excuses, the car isn’t good this year, but he’s not even performing at the level of his team mate.