McLaren 'very confident' in Ricciardo replacement solution

McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown says his outfit is "very confident" about its driver line-up for 2023, despite the legal wranglings it potentially faces regarding the hiring of Daniel Ricciardo's replacement.

While McLaren and Ricciardo confirmed on Wednesday that they had mutually agreed on an early termination of their collaboration, Brown made no mention of the driver that is expected to replace the Aussie, namely current Alpine junior Oscar Piastri.

Earlier this month, at the start of F1's summer break, Piastri was named by Alpine as Fernando Alonso's successor for 2023.

But the young gun remarkably denied having signed a contract with the Enstone squad, insisting he would not be racing for the French team in 2023.

Instead, he has reportedly signed an agreement with McLaren, although neither team nor driver have confirmed this.

However, Alpine continues to claim that it has a valid contract with Piastri for 2023, which potentially puts the team on a legal collision course with McLaren.

• Read also: McLaren and Ricciardo confirm mutually agreed split for 2023

But Brown, while not naming Piastri or disclosing any potential legal proceedings linked to the latter, suggested that McLaren will have the driver line-up it desires for 2023.

"We are obviously very confident in our future, which we will announce in due course," he told the media on Wednesday.

"We want to go racing this weekend and the balance of the year, so we felt it was important to make the announcement today."

Brown highlighted how McLaren's split with Ricciardo had been amicable.

"It's a very amicable and friendly relationship with Daniel, obviously disappointing to come to an end in this manner," he said.

"But we reflect back on things like Monza [Ricciardo’s win in Italy in 2021] which is my personal most exciting moment in my entire time here at McLaren, being on the podium with Daniel and Lando.

"So yes, disappointing outcome but we are excited for the balance of the year as is Daniel, and we will be announcing our future in due course."

Questioned on the potential drawbacks of replacing a seasoned F1 veteran such as Ricciardo with a rookie such as Piastri, McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl refused to comment on such a prospect.

"To be honest I have no interest in going into this comparison at the moment," he said. "Today it's about Daniel, and throughout the weekend at Spa, it will be about Daniel.

"We want to move on. Daniel also wants to move on in terms of the topic we announced today. And regarding the future, it's something we speak afterwards."

A candid Steiner said that McLaren shared the burden of Ricciardo's struggles with the team.

"I think it's very important to state that from my point of view, and I think from the team's side, there was a huge commitment and a lot of effort went in order to make this work," said the German.

"The same happened from the Daniel's side.

"In the end we have to acknowledge we didn't make it work together despite all the commitment that was there from Daniel's side, from the team's side, and despite all the effort we have all put in.

"It's clearly not the outcome that we were not looking for, but at the same time it's important now to switch our focus towards the nine races left together and giving it all again as a team.

"Daniel will do the same and try to finish our relationship on a high, which would be important because we are in a close battle with the Alpine cars.

"Definitely we want to get back into P4 in the constructors’ championship."

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