“It’s generally not kind of met his or our expectations.”
The damning words of McLaren CEO Zak Brown when asked about Daniel Ricciardo’s continued struggles with McLaren this season.
It must be said that while Ricciardo has not been able to get on top of 22-year-old team mate Lando Norris, he hasn’t been beaten as heavily as he was in 2021.
There have been flashes of the Daniel we all know and love, with his win in Monza sure to live long in the memory, but they are becoming fewer and farther between.
Monaco, where Ricciardo so loves to drive, seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Aussie to bounce back, but the rumour mill has gone into overdrive, with Brown referencing “mechanisms” within the contract for either party to terminate the agreement.
Sky Sports F1 pundit & 2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg said: “That is something you don’t want to hear.”
The “mechanisms” that the McLaren boss is speaking about, will be general practice within all agreements in F1 to safeguard both parties should one not meet requirements.
We have seen these clauses activated before, most recently in the case of Ricciardo’s ex-Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel, the reigning four-time consecutive world champion at the time, had a clause in his Red Bull deal, related to his championship position at a certain point in the season, which allowed him to pursue a switch to Ferrari.
McLaren aren’t about to become as cut throat as Ricciardo’s former employers Red Bull when it comes to hiring and firing their drivers, but the man from Perth knows he needs to find a solution quickly.
And speaking of finding a solution, where do McLaren turn if they do end up needing to hire a partner to Lando Norris in 2023?
Here are five potential Ricciardo replacements.
Pierre Gasly
McLaren’s first port of call could be one of Formula 1’s proven midfield stars, who is already a race winner, Pierre Gasly.
The Frenchman, currently at Alpha Tauri, has shone in F1’s midfield since his demotion from the Red Bull team in mid-2019 and would bring a decent amount of experience with him.
Unlike Daniil Kvyat before him, Gasly has not allowed the indignity of a mid-season sacking, barely eight months after beginning his work with Red Bull’s “A” team.
In the 2019 Brazilian grand prix, Gasly scored his first F1 podium for Toro Rosso, beating Lewis Hamilton to second place, in a drag race to the finish line.
The Rouen-born racer went one better in 2020, where he capitalised on some good fortune to hold off Carlos Sainz in the McLaren and score a memorable maiden victory.
In 2021, Gasly was a regular name in Q3, picking up another podium in a crazy finale to the Azerbaijan grand prix.
The question mark for Gasly has not been his speed, he has shown he has plenty of that, but it has been simply, will Red Bull promote him again?
He was passed over at the end of 2020, when Alex Albon failed to make the seat alongside Max Verstappen his own, with the team signing up another driver who got his maiden win in 2020, Sergio Perez.
Mexican driver Perez played his part in helping Verstappen to the 2021 world championship and in 2022, a year where Gasly is being out-performed by Yuki Tsunoda after six rounds, Perez appears at least capable of pushing Verstappen on occasion.
Certainly, Red Bull would like Alpha Tauri to be more than a team for developing drivers, but the team does appear to have something of a ceiling.
Is 2022 the year Gasly cuts his ties to Red Bull to find a new home in Woking with McLaren?
Pato O’Ward
Mexican talent O’Ward is already a McLaren driver, competing in the IndyCar series for the Arrow McLaren SP team.
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O’Ward, a three-time race winner in IndyCar, signed a new contract with the US side of McLaren Racing in the days ahead of the Formula 1 Monaco grand prix, committing him to another three years of IndyCar.
It is believed that in that contract, is the assurance of F1 seat time for the 23-year-old, who has his eyes set on a future drive in Formula 1.
McLaren CEO described O’Ward as “an extremely fast racing driver,” which the Mexican has proven by collecting four IndyCar poles.
O’Ward has already driven a McLaren F1 car, which he did at the 2021 Abu Dhabi grand prix, after winning a bet with Brown about him winning an IndyCar race in 2021.
O’Ward may have just signed a deal to compete for the IndyCar arm of McLaren, but as we may see with Ricciardo, contracts can be broken and have get out clauses.
It may take a bit of shuffling to make this one happen, it’s definitely possible that Pato O’Ward doubles Mexico’s F1 representation in 2023.
Colton Herta
“It’s a serious ambition of mine,” was Colton Herta’s response when asked about his F1 ambitions.
Herta, who has a test upcoming with McLaren in 2022, has been tipped to replace Ricciardo already, when the Aussie’s contract expires at the end of 2023.
The Andretti Autosport driver admitted that the test might not lead anywhere with McLaren, the 22-year-old said: “Maybe it will open a door if I can go quick enough in the car.”
It could be argued that Herta is more qualified for an F1 drive than O’Ward, with his superior success in IndyCar, with seven win and eight poles.
But Herta has shown, while he is demonically fast, he can be prone to error, like his mistake when chasing victory in Nashville in 2021.
In his junior career, Herta raced against McLaren’s current leading driver, Lando Norris.
Norris described Herta as “a bit crazy, a bit of a hooligan, but a lovely guy of course.”
F1 is crying out for an American driver and Herta fits the bill, with his fast and aggressive style.
If the sport continues to build walls to the Andretti F1 project, which Herta is highly likely to be part of, then a move to McLaren in the mean time could prepare him to help the Andretti team, should they find a way onto the grid in the future.
Alexander Albon
This suggestion is a bit left-field but hopefully I can walk you through my thinking with this one.
It would require a lot of status quo in the Red Bull camp, something that is hardly guaranteed, and Williams would need to choose a different route, perhaps by signing one of two drivers who will be mentioned below.
Albon, 24, has demonstrated that he can deliver and it is possible that he would be able to match Sergio Perez’ performance levels in the current Red Bull, which is not as difficult to drive as it’s predecessors.
The Thai-driver has three points in 2022 at the time of writing, executing a marvellous strategy in Australia and sniping a tenth place in Miami, which became ninth when Fernando Alonso was penalised after the race.
Albon has picked up where George Russell left at Williams, comprehensively outperforming his team mate Nicholas Latifi.
Whether Willimas would be prepared to let Albon move to any team that’s not Red Bull affiliated is big hurdle that McLaren would need to overcome, before they even get Red Bull’s green light on the move.
Williams have been planning ahead, in case of the 24-year-old’s departure, with Nyck De Vries, current Formla E world champion, getting some seat time in FP1 at the Spanish grand prix.
While all the teams are required to run a young driver in practice in 2022, as per the rules, it will have given Williams Team Principal Jost Capito a chance to assess his options for 2023.
Would Red Bull want Albon to move to a potential rival though?
McLaren in 2022 have not shown the regular podium winning pace they did in 2021, but there is every chance that the Woking team could solve their inhibitions for 2023 and suddenly be snapping at the heels of the Bull’s, or indeed surpass them.
Running Albon alongside Lando Norris in the same car could also provide interesting information as to just how well a reinvigorated and more experienced Alex can perform.
Oscar Piastri
My original thought for this final option was Nyck De Vries, who was a McLaren junior in his karting and early single seater days.
Then I remembered that Alpine offered their reserve driver and current F2 champion Oscar Piastri as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo when the Australian had COVID-19 ahead of the season opener in Bahrain.
Piastri potentially faces a second season on the side lines at Alpine as 40-year-old Fernando Alonso shows no signs of slowing down or his motivation dimming.
Esteban Ocon is also under contract until the end of 2024 and has been fairly consistent in 2022, as well as winning the Hungarian grand prix in 2021.
Piastri, 21, won Formula Renault, Formula 3 and Formula 2 in consecutive seasons and was still unable to find a seat in Formula 1 for 2022.
McLaren may be willing to replace a Perth-born Aussie with a young charger from Melbourne.
Piastri is part of a pool of reserve drivers for McLaren, who are all linked to other F1 teams.
McLaren are able to call on Mercedes Formula E pair, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck De Vries, who both have been on the McLaren books in the past, Vandoorne racing for the team in 2017 and 2018.
The Woking team also have an agreement to call on Sky Sports F1 pundit Paul Di Resta, who filled in for Felipe Massa at the 2017 Hungarian grand prix.
Perhaps, of all the options presented, Piastri might be the most straightforward to pull off as he is the only driver in named in this article (excluding Di Resta), without a current race seat.
Will Ricciardo really leave McLaren? And will he leave F1 too?
In the end, I think it will come down to Ricciardo to make the decision as to whether he carries on in 2023.
McLaren have openly admitted that they have not provided a car ready to win races on pure performance.
If that rectifies itself in 2023, where Daniel has had another year of input into the car, his fortunes may yet still turn around.
Should the 32-year-old, who has won eight races, leave McLaren, he will most likely find himself out of a seat in 2023.
Aston Martin could be an option, were Sebastian Vettel to call it day, but they are even further from the front than McLaren.
I think that in the scenario that Ricciardo moves on from McLaren, he will seek a new challenge, perhaps joining Romain Grosjean in IndyCar, a series that is very competitive.
We could find Ricciardo in NASCAR, where Ricciardo’s hero Dale Earnhardt competed.
F1 would be a poorer place without Ricciardo, his charisma and giant smile infectious to all.
Ahead of the Monte Carlo weekend, Ricciardo said: “My skin is tanned, beautiful and also thick.”
Let’s hope it is thick enough for the Australian to ride this storm out and return to his late-braking best.