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Daniel Ricciardo's race at Barcelona would have left his fans shocked and disappointed. The Australian driver started the race in P9 but by the time the chequered flag fell, he was down to 12th. All of this happened without any collisions, clashes, or mistakes whatsoever.
Ricciardo's teammate Lando Norris ended up overtaking the Aussie to finish the race in P8. To further rub salt in his wounds, Norris was suffering from tonsilitis all weekend, was puking all over the place before the start of the race, and was in very poor physical condition.
After the race, Daniel Ricciardo was disappointed and made it pretty transparent while speaking to the media that he was desperately trying to find the answers to his lack of speed. Confessing that there weren't too many positives to take from the race, he said:
“It wasn’t a good race today. I’d love to find something positive, but it was just a struggle from the start. I was slow, and I simply had a lot less grip than everyone else around me. With the three stops, we had four chances on different sets of tyres, but we didn’t have the pace on any of them. I’m not really sure why, to be honest, so we’ll try to have a look and understand it.”
It would not have been much of an issue for either the team or the driver if the race in Barcelona was an exception. Sadly for Daniel Ricciardo, that's not the case as at the Spanish GP, the blueprint of the Australian being slower than his teammate and hence getting outshined ever since he joined McLaren is what happened.
With the relationship lasting more than a year and with Ricciardo still not performing at the desired level, McLaren might have a problem when it comes to its drivers.
Lando Norris has dominated Daniel Ricciardo
In the 2021 F1 season, Lando Norris had 160 points compared to the 114 points scored by Daniel Ricciardo. Norris had 4 podiums and a pole position to his name while Ricciardo had one podium visit where he won the Italian GP. In the 2022 F1 season, Norris has 39 points to his name with one podium, while Ricciardo has only 11 points to his name at the moment.
In F1, sometimes stats don't paint a true picture, but when you take into account the fact that these stats have been accumulated over a year and a half, you do tend to realize the credence to it. Lando Norris has been by some distance the dominant force in McLaren. It was attributed to the car not being to Daniel Ricciardo's liking in the first season, but with the gap remaining more or less the same, it's hard to find any more excuses. Ricciardo has been a significant underperformer at McLaren and there is no sugar-coating it anymore.
Daniel Ricciardo's salary is starting to burn a hole in McLaren's pocket
The problem for McLaren is that although Daniel Ricciardo is still a relatively reliable bet and a great asset to the team, that's not what he's on the team for. He's not on the team to bring in average results. He's on the team to be at the sharp edge of the car's performance. He's on the team to bring the kind of results that Lando Norris is producing, or better.
Ricciardo, however, is nowhere close to reaching the car's potential. When you take into account the fact that he is one of the highest-paid drivers on the grid, it makes you realize why McLaren will be thinking long and hard about how to solve this problem.
Ricciardo's contract expires at the end of next season, but the level at which he's performing right now and the kind of salary McLaren is paying him, it's not a profitable deal for the team anymore.
There are probably better options available for McLaren at a cheaper price
While there is no denying that Daniel Ricciardo has another year on his contract, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that McLaren have a long and hard look at his exit clause.
In F1, it is very common practice to add a "performance clause" to the contract that can be activated if either the team or the driver is unable to match the previously agreed-upon performance levels. If McLaren do feel that Ricciardo's performance and the salary that he commands do not add up, they can activate the clause and look beyond him for the team's long-term plan.
Especially because potentially there are options of drivers available on the grid that have more promise and require a much smaller investment. Will a former 4-time world champion in Sebastian Vettel fit into those plans? Looking at the level at which he's performing right now, it's hard to say no. Maybe an Oscar Piastri if McLaren can lure him away from Alpine? Or maybe give the IndyCar sensation Colton Herta a chance? Or Pato O'Ward for that matter?
There are some very interesting options available for McLaren. If Ricciardo is not delivering at the level that he's supposed to, then maybe a move towards something more promising would not be a bad idea for the team.
