>
Zak Brown BACKS Daniel Ricciardo ‘getting his magic back’ after his nightmare with McLaren as Formula One team boss describes Australia’s two-year struggle as a ‘huge mystery’
- Zak Brown has backed Daniel Ricciardo to ‘get his magic back’ in an F1 car
- McLaren’s Brown decided to part ways with Ricciardo at the end of last season
- F1 team boss still can’t explain why partnership went awry
- However, he says a change of scenery could reignite Ricciardo’s career.
Zak Brown has backed Daniel Ricciardo in rediscovering his magic after his failure at McLaren, as the Formula One team boss lamented the “big mystery” of his terrible two-year stint.
McLaren decided to part ways with Ricciardo at the end of 2022 after the Australian struggled to deliver during a miserable campaign.
The 33-year-old’s arrival in 2020 received strong endorsements, with the former Red Bull ace expected to perform in a stronger car after impressing with Renault.
Zak Brown has backed Daniel Ricciardo to “get his magic back” after his nightmare at McLaren
Ricciardo and McLaren parted ways at the end of last season after a miserable campaign
However, barring a sublime win at Monza in 2021, Ricciardo fell short of those initial expectations with McLaren and was regularly outclassed by younger teammate Lando Norris.
Ricciardo has since been replaced by his compatriot, Oscar Piastri, and Brown still doesn’t know why it didn’t work out with the charismatic veteran.
“We don’t know,” Brown said of Ricciardo’s failed two-year spell at McLaren via SpeedCafe. We’ve certainly looked at it. We gave him everything we have, Daniel gave him everything he has, and our relationship with Daniel was great.
“It was clearly disappointing for both of us in terms of the result, but I think it’s a big mystery why.” [it happened]. I don’t think Daniel knows, we don’t know, we tried everything. Maybe we work too hard.
The 33-year-old was unable to deliver results for the team and was outclassed by Norris.
However, Brown believes that a change of environment could be key to reviving his career.
“I think ultimately that’s why we both decided to make a change because we had tried everything and we really didn’t know why it wasn’t working.”
Ricciardo has since signed with Red Bull as their ‘third driver’ for 2023, and Brown believes a return to where he has enjoyed his greatest success may bring about a turnaround in the Australian’s fortunes.
‘So hopefully a change of scenery for him. [will mean] he’ll get his magic back because he sure is a magical guy,’ he said.
‘You saw in Monza what he is capable of, and he has done it seven other times. But we needed to make a change because we couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.’