McLaren boss Zak Brown has claimed that Sebastian Vettel was never an option for McLaren, unlike Daniel Ricciardo.
This week, McLaren announced that Australian Daniel Ricciardo will soon join its ranks, teaming up with the British driver Lando Norris for “several years”.
Some media, including this website, reported that Sebastian Vettel has received interest from McLaren, while the German driver will no longer be driving for Ferrari at the end of this season. But McLaren CEO Zak Brown says Sebastian Vettel has never been an option for the British team, unlike Daniel Ricciardo, who has been courted by the team since last winter.
“We’ve been chasing Ricciardo for a few years now and we just missed him [in 2018],” Brown told Sky Sports (watch the full interview in the player below:)
“So we’ve been fans of Daniel for a while. Of course, he went to Renault and we brought in Carlos [Sainz] and Lando [Norris] and they did a fantastic job.
“But as things turned out, we were out of contract with Carlos [for 2021] and he had some opportunities. We’re going to miss Carlos, he did a fantastic job but now we’re going to have a seven-time Grand Prix winner in the car. ” says Brown.
Sainz, who will join Ferrari on a two-year contract to replace Vettel, has been allowed to speak at the Scuderia Ferrari during the forced break due to the coronavirus.
“We have a very strong and open relationship with Carlos, his management and his father. It was no surprise given how quickly we announced Daniel and how quickly Carlos announced what he was doing. We were very united throughout this whole process. ” explains the American.
“We have a very strong and open relationship with Carlos, his management and his father. It was no surprise given how quickly we announced Daniel and how quickly Carlos announced what he was doing. We were very united throughout this whole process. ” explains the American.
“I think these transfers probably would have happened with or without COVID because we started these conversations before COVID.
“Obviously, Seb [Vettel] is a great driver and a four-time world champion. But I think we were pretty far out of the season and we knew we were going to sign with Daniel or Carlos.
“We never really thought about anyone else apart from those two and especially with the latest news about Seb – we were pretty far from that possibility at that stage. ”
Certainly, it’s a slam dunk from Brown, putting to bed the Vettel link. That said, Brown is a canny operator and knows what to say to cameras. TJ13 understands that McLaren had Vettel on their radar in recent times, as no team ever leaves themselves only one or two options for the future.
But Brown has scored a real victory in securing Ricciardo from main rivals Renault, and McLaren need the Australian in for the long term as team leader heading into their Mercedes engine deal in 2021 onwards. He’s certainly not going to be confirming any talks with other top-line drivers, particularly those who had been bested by Ricciardo when teammates in 2014.
He’s not that dumb.
