It didn’t work out with McLaren, but Andreas Seidl believes that it could click again for Daniel Ricciardo in another Formula 1 team.
It is still unclear whether and where Daniel Ricciardo will drive Formula 1 next year. The Australian himself has already ruled out a change to another racing series after the announcement of his separation from McLaren. In order to find the right cockpit, he could imagine taking a year off.
In any case, his current team boss Andreas Seidl believes that Ricciardo would definitely be able to build on previous top performances in another team.
“I’m firmly convinced that it’s possible, because I’ve experienced it myself in the past,” says Seidl. “I’ve seen it with other drivers. And we’ve seen it with other drivers in the past.”
Ricciardo celebrated his greatest successes in Formula 1 at Red Bull, where he celebrated a total of 29 podium finishes between 2014 and 2018, including seven wins, and was third in the World Championship twice. At Renault and then McLaren, however, the 33-year-old was no longer able to match this level.
Seidl: It can click again
“In the end we have to accept on both sides that despite all the efforts we’ve made, despite all the commitments, despite everything we’ve tried on the side of the car, despite everything he’s tried on his side, didn’t manage to make it together,” says Seidl.
We are jointly responsible for this, he affirms. “Like I said, I also take full responsibility for it. But that doesn’t change the respect that I and we all have for Daniel as a person, but also as a racer.”
Things didn’t work out between McLaren and Ricciardo in terms of the common goals and hoped-for results. But his team boss hopes “that the next time he embarks on an adventure, it will click again and it will work”.
Seidl knows: “Formula 1 is very complex, there are so many factors that play a role in surviving on the track – on the driver’s side, on the team’s side, on the car’s side.” And especially when you’re not completely familiar with the car, like Ricciardo, it becomes very difficult.
Ricciardo and the McLaren did not become a unit
“Daniel has explained on several occasions that he has never been completely comfortable with our car, that it has never felt entirely natural for him to get the maximum performance out of the car, especially in qualifying. Unfortunately, that meant that we didn’t We were able to achieve results that we wanted to achieve.”
“We couldn’t repeat race weekends like in Monza”, where Ricciardo surprisingly won in 2021. “Although of course I have to say that we never had the car to repeat Monza to actually drive for victory.”
But with a view to the consistency of the results compared to Lando Norris, Ricciardo unfortunately dropped out, Seidl notes. The Australian is already 57 points behind his team-mate this season. Last year they were separated by 45 points.
No rush when planning the future of Formula 1
When asked about his future, Ricciardo himself stated: “When it comes to the question of where I will drive, it’s Formula 1 at the moment. That’s the only place I can see myself in the near future. So that’s it something I’m sure of, at least as far as my desires go.”
As far as further planning is concerned, he wanted to concentrate on the next races first: “We are in a triple header, so the next few weeks will be relentless. Not necessarily on this topic, but simply as a schedule.”
“I want to get that over with and then see how I feel. I’m not interested in making any quick decisions, let alone emotionally. So we’ll see how it goes. But the goal when I’m in sitting in a racing car is definitely a Formula 1 car.”