Ex-team principal of McLaren racing Andreas Seidl has opened up about the decision of sacking Daniel Ricciardo.
McLaren sacked Daniel Ricciardo due to his lack of performance with the outfit this season. The Aussie was dropped 1 year early for his Australian counterpart Oscar Piastri. The young driver will drive for McLaren 2023 onwards.
During his time at McLaren Andreas Seidl was the team principal. The German engineer recently left the Woking-based squad to join the Sauber Group. Seidl took the position of the Chief Executive Officer as the Audi-Sauber partnership enter the sport in 2026.
Now, Andreas Seidl has opened up about how difficult of a decision it was to sack Daniel Ricciardo:
“Professionally, it was definitely one of the toughest things I had to deal with in my motorsport career,”
said Seidl.
“Having these open and honest discussions with a great driver and a great guy like Daniel was tough.”
“Especially then, telling him, openly and honestly about our decision that we wanted to split ways early.”
“At the same time, I’m very, very happy that we both managed together to do it in a way, with this transparency and open dialogue we always had, that we still could finish a season together with great commitment from both sides to finish on a high.“
“We still have a great relationship where we can still go for a dinner or a beer at night.”
“That is very, very important for me because, in the end, it’s about the human beings in this sport as well, despite all the complex technology.”
Daniel Ricciardo will be returning to his old team Red bull as the third driver this season. The 33-year-old looks ready for a comeback in 2024.
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