McLaren CEO Zak Brown has backed Daniel Ricciardo to rediscover his “magic” as a reserve driver at Red Bull.
Ricciardo endured two difficult seasons with McLaren after joining the Woking-based team alongside Daniel Ricciardo in 2021.
The Australian driver departed the squad at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign, bringing his original deal to an end one year early.
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McLaren has signed rookie Oscar Piastri in his place, while Ricciardo has returned to Red Bull, the team he raced for from 2014 – 2018.
Ricciardo will be carrying out marketing and development duties, while he will also be the team’s reserve driver at select events.
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Speaking to Speedcafe, Brown highlighted that McLaren was forced to take a decision regarding Ricciardo’s future as it couldn’t understand why he was underperforming.
“We don’t know. We have certainly analysed it,” he said. “We gave it everything we’ve got, Daniel gave it everything he’s got and our relationship with Daniel was great.
“It was clearly disappointing for both of us as to the outcome. I think it’s a great mystery as to why. I don’t think Daniel knows, we don’t know, we tried everything. Maybe we worked too hard.
“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 clicking.
“So hopefully a change of environment for him [will mean] he’ll get his magic back because for sure he’s a magical guy.
“You saw in Monza [2021, when Ricciardo ended McLaren’s win drought] what he’s capable of, and he’s done that seven other times. But we needed to make a change because we couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.”
Ricciardo has set his sights on returning to the grid for the 2024 season.
