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2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button believes that a move to Williams would be the right step for Daniel Ricciardo. However, the latter recently announced that his contract with McLaren would be terminated a year early, making the 2022 season his last with the Woking-based team. While McLaren announced on Friday that Oscar Piastri will replace the eight-time Grand Prix winner to partner with Lando Norris in 2023, Daniel Ricciardo's plans for the future are yet to be confirmed.
While most teams have fixed driver line-ups for the upcoming season, the Aussie does not have too many options in front of him. Although it seems likely that Ricciardo will return to Alpine now that Fernando Alonso is moving to Aston Martin to replace Sebastian Vettel, Button believes that replacing Nicholas Latiti at Williams would be ideal in the long run for the 33-year-old.
Speaking in Sky F1’s coverage of the Dutch Grand Prix, the Briton claimed that a move to Williams would be an "exciting prospect" for Daniel Ricciardo:
“It’s tricky when you’ve had a bad run of it. I’m sure he doesn’t want to spend a couple of years developing a car. But Williams…well, I definitely would! I obviously work with Williams and I know what they have coming and what has changed over the last few years with the team. So it’s a really exciting prospect, working with a team in developing a car around you the way you like to drive it. I’m one of those people, like Daniel, that wants a car that suits my style. So it would be a perfect scenario.”
McLaren "not working to his strengths" - Jenson Button on Daniel Ricciardo's struggles
It is safe to say that Daniel Ricciardo has failed to meet expectations during his time at McLaren, given his significant performance gap with Lando Norris. Jenson Button, however, believes that this has less to do with his pure pace and capabilities and that it is more about the car suiting his driving style.
Speaking about why things have not clicked for Ricciardo with McLaren, Button said:
“It’s a change of regulations this year with the aerodynamic package of the car, mostly. But it’s still a McLaren. And they have a way of designing the car. I think what Daniel still struggles with is you can’t brake and turn in with the McLaren. Whereas he was very used to that previously, where you can brake and turn into a corner while still braking.”
He further added:
“With a McLaren, you have to brake in a straight line, off the brakes, turn in. I think he really struggles with that. Because if you’re braking and turning in, you’re gonna lock the inside front with a McLaren and slide off the circuit. So it’s just not working to his strengths and it feels like he needs to have a restart. We know he can be competitive. He’s a race winner and it’s not like it was 10 years ago!”
Daniel Ricciardo has proven himself to be an extremely talented driver over the course of his career but currently only stands thirteenth in the drivers' standings with nineteen points to his name.
