Austrian Grand Prix 2022: McLaren boss Zak Brown opens up on Daniel Ricciardo’s fortunes

Daniel Ricciardo is a ‘fighter’ according to McLaren boss Zac Brown who has backed his veteran driver to regain his best form this season.

Daniel Ricciardo Picture: Getty Images

McLaren boss Zak Brown has reaffirmed the team’s commitment to returning “fighter” Daniel Ricciardo to the podium again, saying the Australian’s racing resume demanded he should be challenging teammate Lando Norris further up the field.

Declaring Ricciardo could win more races for McLaren, Brown insisted he still had a “great relationship” with the eight-time Grand Prix winner despite his pointed comments earlier in the season that the Perth racer had not “met his or our expectations”.

In an exclusive interview with Fox Motorsport host Jessica Yates to air this weekend, Brown said McLaren was “totally committed” to reviving Ricciardo’s fortunes after a challenging season in which he has finished inside the top-10 only twice.

In contrast, Norris – who Brown tipped could be a “future world champion” – has finished among the points seven times, including one podium.

Fuelling speculation about his future in Formula One, Brown had previously turned up the pressure on Ricciardo when he said the team has “mechanisms” in his contract, which expires at the end of 2023, that could terminate it early.

It followed Brown’s previous comments that 22-year-old Norris had a clear “edge” over his more experienced teammate.

Brown defended his “honest” comments and said they had not impacted his relationship with the 33-year-old Australian star.

“I know it caused a lot of ripples outside. Daniel and I have a great relationship,” Brown said.

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Daniel Ricciardo has the support of his McLaren team. Picture: Getty Images

“We had dinner in London not too long after that and we were trading WhatsApps all the time.

“Someone asked me a question and I gave them an honest answer and it is the same answer Daniel has given and would give, which is we are not where we want to be.

“I think on the flip side if I had said ‘No, everything’s great’ I think someone would say ‘Well, really, you’re happy with 12th?’ Of course, I’m not happy with 12th.

“So it was just an honest answer, it was not meant to be critical, it doesn’t mean we don’t think he can win us more races, it doesn’t mean we are not trying unbelievably hard. Quite the opposite, I know he can win us more races, we are trying unbelievably hard.

“But given his resume and how Lando is going, do we expect him to be right next to Lando, whether that is right in front or right behind? Yeah, and so does he.

“We are going to get there, we are totally committed to it.”

Ricciardo finished 13th in last week’s crash-married British Grand Prix at Silverstone as Norris claimed sixth place. Ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Ricciardo sits 14th in the F1 driver standings with Norris seventh.

Probed more on Ricciardo’s future, Brown said the team loved working with Ricciardo and was focused on “unlocking” the formula to make him a race winner again.

McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. Picture: Getty Images

“He is a fighter and his results since we said that (comment) – that’s not how they were intended – and he has been much closer to Lando and beat Lando so maybe there was something to a little bit of firing him up,” Brown said.

“When you look at these athletes, you see coaches that yell at their players so it was not an intended consequence.

“But I think you just keep pushing hard, we love working with him, he loves the team and we have seen when we give him a car that is capable of winning, he can win in it.

“As he said last year, he did not feel he had a good season last year and he still won (a race in Italy).

“So it’s in there, we have just got to figure out how to unlock it, give him a car that he is more comfortable with. We have got a great relationship.”

Brown was bullish about the future potential of Norris, declaring he could become a future champion of the sport.

McLaren Chief Executive Officer Zak Brown has thrown his support behind Aussie veteran Daniel Ricciardo. Picture: Getty Images

“He is definitely a future world champion, we just need to give him a car that is capable of winning races and then he will start winning races,” Brown said.

Brown also addressed the issue of porpoising in Formula One this year, but said it had not been a problem which had impacted McLaren.

“It has not affected us, it has affected a lot of the teams and then a couple it has affected a lot,” Brown said.

“If you do have it, there are ways to solve it, you raise your car or you run it softer.

“You could fix the set-up of the car but that comes with compromising performance and obviously not Formula One team wants to compromise performance.

“Of course no one would ever want to put driver safety at risk but it is a problem and it looks pretty nasty on some of those cars.

“I understand they don’t want to compromise performance but maybe they need to do that in the short term until we get the rules fixed.”

Originally published as Austrian Grand Prix 2022: McLaren boss Zak Brown opens up on Daniel Ricciardo’s fortunes