The glaring stat that shows why McLaren will replace Ricciardo for F1 2023
Despite beating Lando Norris to McLaren’s first win since 2012 at Monza last year, Daniel Ricciardo’s time with the Woking outfit hasn’t lived up to expectations.
Signed on a massive bumper deal as a replacement for Carlos Sainz, Ricciardo’s underperformance has led the announcement that he will leave McLaren before the F1 2023 season, opening up the driver market.
McLaren have agreed to pay off Ricciardo because he was contracted until the end of 2023 - an eye-watering $21 million (£13.5 million) with a year to go still on his contract.
In terms of the key statistics, how bad has it been for Ricciardo in 2022 up against Norris?
Ricciardo v Norris in 2022
Race: 3-10
Qualifying: 2-11
Points: 19-76
Podiums: 0-1
Best finish: 6th - 3rd
Best grid position: 6th - 4th
Ricciardo’s poor performance is costing McLaren in the constructors’ championship with Alpine currently fourth in the pecking order.
Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso have consistently scored points this season, while McLaren are relying on Norris to carry the team.
One glaring stat that shows how much Ricciardo is struggling this year is looking at qualifying sectors versus Norris.
Data from Lights Out Blog show that in the 13 qualifying sessions this year, Ricciardo has only set a faster sector time than Norris on five occasions (34-5 in Norris’ favour).
Comparatively, Alex Albon is 28-8 against Nicholas Latifi; Valtteri Bottas is 29-10 against Zhou Guanyu; Sebastian Vettel is 21-9 compared to Lance Stroll.
Ricciardo is also reportedly the fifth-highest earner on the grid - a whopping £12.2 million per year.
Compared to the rest of the grid, Ricciardo is on more money than Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc (£9.8m each) and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (£8.6m).
Norris’ performances versus Ricciardo also earned him a sizable pay rise - making him the third behind Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen on £20 million per year.
Ricciardo’s performances don’t warrant being one of the best paid drivers on the grid.
No doubt that his likely replacement - Piastri - will be on significantly less for 2023.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
