05/08/2018
NEWS STORY
In the wake of Daniel Ricciardo's switch to Renault, McLaren boss Zak Brown claims the Woking team was close to signing the Australian.
"We had a couple of meetings and we are big fans of Daniel," Brown tells Racer. "I think he's a great guy, I think he's a great race car driver.
"How close we came to getting him, I think only Daniel knows the answer to that question," adds Brown. "Had we been running more competitively I think that would have increased our odds.
"I think he had a strong desire to leave and I think it was probably pretty close between us and Renault, but ultimately Daniel would be best to tell you how close. But he was certainly someone that we rate very highly."
Rumours linking Ricciardo with McLaren first appeared in late June after Germany's Bild claimed that the Red Bull star had been offered $20m a year to make the move to Woking, around three times his salary with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
Pointing out at the time that there were no quotes to give the Bild story any real merit, we remarked that a move to McLaren at this stage would be "career suicide" and actually suggested the Australian should consider a switch to Renault, in what we termed "an interesting, and possibly very rewarding move".
Ricciardo's switch to Renault is expected to kick-start the driver market, as Red Bull seeks a partner for Max Verstappen, and McLaren awaits news of Fernando Alonso's plans.
"It's thrown a spanner in the works for some other teams," says Brown, "but we've got a plan which we are executing against which Ricciardo's move doesn't impact.
"Red Bull is a great racing team but I think Fernando has got what he wants to do in the back of his mind. Never say never, but I don't think it changes anything in Fernando's world."