Unprecedented revelations have come to light about Daniel Ricciardo’s departure from McLaren at the end of the 2022 Formula 1 season. Tom Stallard, the Australian’s former racing engineer at the British team, gave a new insight into the behind-the-scenes of this troubled passage.
Ricciardo lasted just two seasons at McLaren, facing difficulties adapting to the car and constantly falling behind then teammate Lando Norris. He was later replaced by his compatriot Oscar Piastri and returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver, before securing a place on the grid in mid-2024 with sister team AlphaTauri, now RB.
Stallard, who worked closely with Ricciardo at McLaren in an attempt to improve his performance, explained the challenges faced by the driver: “Daniel arrived at the team during the second Covid lockdown. This was quite complicated, as he lived in Los Angeles and we had to meet via video conference. We managed to cover the technical part, but we missed a lot of social interaction.”
“The ideal is to know the pilot well to allow a lot of non-verbal communication to happen. A driver in difficulty is a delicate situation in a sport where there is practically no training. They need to step away, reflect on what happened and what they need to do differently, and then come back with a new plan and try again,” he added.
The engineer also admitted that Ricciardo’s departure was difficult to deal with: “When the team decided to hire Oscar in place of Daniel, it took me a long time to process it, because I was completely focused on working with him and evolving together. It was frustrating to interrupt before we solved the puzzle. I never lost hope, I never thought it wouldn’t work.”
“This may sound strange, but I am very proud of the work we did with Daniel. We all tried hard, including him. We are still great friends and see each other at every race. It would be easy to imagine the opposite. It is a reflection of his character, and I would like to believe, also a reflection of the strong collaboration we had”, concluded Stallard.
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