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Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo hasn’t had a great 2022 season with McLaren. The Honey Badger hasn’t looked like the world-class driver all fans know and love. Hence McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown had talked about how Ricciardo hasn’t met expectations. Reacting to these comments, the Aussie has talked about agreeing with Brown’s thoughts.
“I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe I’ve become a bit immune to the media and that. Being in the sport for so long, I feel like we do more and more as we go through the years. I don’t really take it probably for its full value or worth all the time, I know some things are taken out of context", he quoted.
“I’m not one to like go into it and read too much and try and understand it. At the end of the day, I know the facts between us and what I have with the team, so I don’t get caught up. So I guess I’m not surprised with anything these days”, he further spoke.
“Until the end of next year, I’m fully committed,” Ricciardo
Ricciardo then expressed that he has since spoken with Brown to clarify the comments made about his performances. “We’ve spoken, we’ve had a catch-up. I think nothing needed to be elaborated on,” he added. "Sometimes I’m guilty of it was well, getting caught up in the media and not always making total sense of things and I just like to talk", said Ricciardo.
“The clarity is clear for us moving forward, my contract is clear with the team until the end of next year I’m fully committed, I’ve certainly voiced that. It’s obviously now just on track to show it and show these moments and these races I know I’m capable of. I have the full support of the team and we want to do it together.”
“It’s generally not kind of met his or our expectations,” Brown
While speaking on Sky Sports’ Any Driven Monday segment, Brown talked about how Ricciardo is ‘not comfortable yet with the car’ but they strive to work as a team and get back to winning ways. Brown said, “Daniel is just not comfortable yet with the car, we’re trying everything we can. Again it was a disappointing weekend."
"Short of [Ricciardo's win at] Monza and a few races, it’s generally not kind of met his or our expectations, as far as what we were expecting. And I think all you can do is keep working hard as a team, keep communications going, keep pushing and hope that whatever is not kind of clicking at the moment clicks shortly”, Brown concluded.