17/10/2022
NEWS STORY
McLaren CEO, Zak Brown credits team boss Andreas Seidl with the decision to sign Oscar Piastri to the Woking outfit, while insisting that the Australian youngster must be given time to prove himself.
While publicly the seeds were first sewn when Brown said that Daniel Ricciardo had not lived up to expectations, behind the scenes former racer turned TV pundit, Mark Webber, who manages Piastri, was talking to Seidl, his former boss at Porsche.
Despite Ricciardo's claim that he was going nowhere, the writing was on the wall and days ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix McLaren confirmed that Piastri would be partnering Lando Norris in 2023, having confirmed just a week earlier that Ricciardo would not be continuing with the team.
"Andreas is the one that I ultimately lean on to come forward with what he wants as a driver line-up," Brown tells Speedcafe.com. "We think very similar, I can't think of any decisions that we haven't both agreed on, whether that's driver or other performance-related issues.
"It was Andreas who brought it forward," he continues, "it was Andreas who recruited him, it was Andreas that had the relationship with Mark.
"Obviously, I've seen him race," he adds, "know his background, but credit to Andreas for binding him. He was our reserve driver, which was something Andreas did. I mean, his resume speaks for itself to date, and it was Andreas that put forward the recommendation which I fully, fully supported."
Though he faces at least a year out of the sport, with some already claiming his F1 career is over, Ricciardo can take some comfort from the reported $21m 'severance pay-off' he will receive from the Woking squad.
Though the team is likely to lose out on around $10m in prize money should it fail to overhaul Alpine in the team standings, not to mention missing out on various sponsor bonuses, Brown insists the financial aspect have not affected the team's approach.
"We're financially very healthy as a racing team," he says. "We've got great corporate support, new investors, so money didn't really factor into our decision; it was what we thought was best for performance for the team long-term. We can afford to make performance-based decisions, even if those have short-term economic consequences. Economics wasn't going to drive our decision."
Nonetheless, moving forward, particularly in terms of those sponsors for whom Ricciardo was seen as great PR, Piastri - who is understood to be on one of the lowest retainers on the 2023 grid - must quickly establish himself.
Not so, argues Brown, who wants to give the youngster time.
"I think it's important that we recognise he's a rookie who has spent a year outside of racing," says the American. "I think he'll be like anyone else, a rookie that has a degree of a little bit of rust on him from not racing.
"But he's a huge talent, so we just need to give him time. I think what we need to do is not put too much pressure on him, or get into comparisons, or he's filling Daniel's shoes, none of that stuff.
"We just need to let him settle in and support him because I think when you come to McLaren, and come in the way he's come in, in between the Daniel situation, Alpine's situation, it'll be high profile.
"We need to make sure that we let him settle in, and while fans and media will be quick with their commentary, we need to give him time as a rookie to settle in."
Let's just hope he lives up to expectations.