Jacques Villeneuve suggests Daniel Ricciardo is nearing McLaren exit

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has said that he believes Daniel Ricciardo is nearing the exit door at McLaren.

The Aussie has not had it go his way since joining the team at the start of 2021, and the pressure appeared to step up a notch last week when Zak Brown said that the driver’s time with the team had not lived up to expectations.

In fairness to Daniel, he admitted himself speaking to the press before the Monaco Grand Prix that he agreed with his boss’ view but, at the end of the day, that’s not going to be what saves his drive with the team.

Currently, he has a contract until the end of next season alongside team-mate Lando Norris but Brown has hinted that there might be mechanisms that could release the Aussie early from his contract, and Villeneuve seems to think it could nearly be over for Ricciardo with the Woking-based team:

“Ricciardo’s time at McLaren is over,” he said to Formule 1.

“Zak Brown is already saying that there are clauses in the contract and that means that a decision has basically been made.

“It’s a way to put the pressure on the driver and prepare the media.

“Ultimately, he is a dearly paid driver who costs the team a lot of money.

“He doesn’t bring in any points and he doesn’t have the speed the team needs to develop the car. So he just costs them money.

“It would be cheaper to continue paying Ricciardo’s salary, let him sit on the couch at home and put another driver in the car. It’s the harsh reality, but that’s Formula 1.”

Ultimately, Ricciardo is a top driver but he has not merged well with the McLaren car this year or last, whilst Lando Norris has aced things.

He’ll be itching to turn it around, but time will tell if he can do it quickly enough.