Why McLaren is taking so much risk to bring in Piastri

Ricciardo disappoints

It was in the air for a while, but on Wednesday afternoon McLaren and Ricciardo announced that their collaboration is coming to an end. The contract of the Australian still ran through to 2023, but McLaren did not want to continue with the eight-time race winner. It has its eye on a replacement and may even have one already under contract.

It is clear that Ricciardo has underperformed in a year and a half at McLaren. The former Red Bull Racing and Renault driver was brought in as the big man and is said to be earning around €15 million a year. A big difference with his younger teammate Lando Norris.

The driver from our own training proved better than people at McLaren might have thought. Where the Brit still had to give way to Carlos Sainz, Norris has shown in one and a half years time that not Ricciardo, but he is the new number one of the team. With the contract situation of the two, this of course posed problems for McLaren.

In 2021, the difference between the two drivers was huge. Norris won the qualifying duel 15-7 with an average difference of 0.192s. Against acknowledged qualifying beast Ricciardo, that was a particularly handsome performance. On Sunday, Norris also made a step forward. In the races that both drivers crossed the line, Norris finished ahead of Ricciardo fifteen times and only five times the other way around. This was also reflected in points: 160 for Norris to 115 for Ricciardo.

In 2021 Ricciardo could still cling to the fact that he had won in Italy, Norris had known the car longer and had also been involved with the team longer. 2022 would be a fresh start for Ricciardo with a completely new car and a year of experience with the team.

Although Ricciardo's preparation was somewhat marred by a Covid infection during winter testing, that cannot be an excuse for the Australian's disappointing performance in the current season. The qualifying duel is already 11-2 in Norris' favour with the Briton qualifying an average of 0.356s faster than his experienced team-mate. On Sunday, the race duel is 'only' 8-3, but the difference in points for is huge: 76-19.

McLaren could not do otherwise

From the McLaren point of view, it is therefore understandable that the cooperation with Ricciardo is ended. From a young driver you can accept it if he does not perform, but Ricciardo is under contract for a large salary and that includes great performances. The longer he does not perform, the more grim the faces on the other side of the garage become.

For McLaren, it was then a matter of finding a solution. Norris has shown that he can lead the team and so a leader is not necessarily needed. They are not just there for the taking, because the great drivers of this moment are also fixed for a longer period at Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and Mercedes. McLaren can't draw on their own training either, so they took a look at the competition.

Piastri comes into the picture

Oscar Piastri fits the bill that McLaren has in mind. A young driver who has proven to be fast, but who can initially sit next to Norris. As a young talent, Piastri won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in his first season. The Australian is considered one of the greatest talents of his generation, but Alpine had no place for him in 2021.

When Alpine then hinted again in 2022 that it preferred to keep Fernando Alonso with the team and offer Piastri a place with a smaller team, it drove Piastri to the exit. Williams was mentioned as his future destination, but the question is to what extent the deal was already done and how much appetite Piastri had for it.

Apparently, Piastri was not confident, because a knock on McLaren's door was answered. The talent has thus smashed his own windows at Alpine, but may get a better place in return before 2023. He probably didn't foresee that there would be a vacancy at Alpine after all.

Piastri and McLaren take a risk

Piastri is taking a risk. Alpine has invested in him for years to get him to the top and a move to a rival is not really rewarding. In addition, Piastri is now moving to a team where Norris is in charge. He was McLaren's pupil and has now become the leader. If Piastri is not good enough, he could be pushed aside and not have a safety net.

It is also a risk for McLaren. Ricciardo has been paid his salary because his contract runs until 2023 and there is no guarantee that Piastri will do better. He won the F3 and F2 titles, but hasn't even driven an official test in a 2022 F1 car yet. It is also a question of how the team will perform. With Norris, the team has a clear frontrunner and with a young talent alongside him, an internal struggle may arise.

On the other hand, this move is perfectly understandable. By buying out Ricciardo, Norris is now the real number one and will not keep pointing at his team mate's contract. Ricciardo's performance was simply not good enough to hold on to him any longer. With Piastri, the Woking-based team has picked up a great talent and taken that talent away from a rival.

Piastri's choice will not go down well with everyone. He has been supported financially by Alpine to get this far and that team is now getting a raw deal. On the other hand, you can't blame Piastri for moving on after he was sidelined in 2022 because Alpine didn't get their act together. However, by making the switch, Piastri has lost his chances at Alpine in F1, so he must be a success under the wings of McLaren.