Daniel Ricciardo could lose his seat in McLaren if he continues to under perform . The Australian is clearly struggling with his McLaren MCL36 and is being constantly beaten by his teammate Lando Norris .
McLaren Chief Zak Brown has said that the team will take a decision on driver lineup later this year .In a chat with F1Nation, he said , “I think he(Daniel Ricciardo) still doesn’t feel ten out of ten on top of the car, but he’s got a great relationship with Lando , he knows the team well , it’s great he was able to go back to Australia for the first time in a couple of years and recharge the batteries and see the family .”
He even revealed that they are testing new talents , “Doing some testing with Pato , going to do some testing with Colton . We’ve got Ugo in Formula4 , put it on pole for his first race . So i don’t think you can ever plan too early , but there’s no rush . “
In a separate chat with McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl , he said ” Colton is a proven talent in IndyCar and we will be interested to see how he adapts to a Formula1 car . We believe this testing programme will provide him with valuable experience while demonstrating the benefit of expanding previous car testing to showcase promising driver for the future .”
Moreover Ricciardo is 32 years old and Colton is 22 and McLaren might be looking to form a young duo at their team with Colton and Lando to lead them into the future. With F1 booming in America and McLaren having multiple American sponsors and partners , the move to bring in an American driver would largely benefit McLaren .
It is rumored that a driver swap between Gasly and Ricciardo could take place at the end of the season if Colton Herta’s signing doesn’t go through .
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