McLaren wins lottery with Ricciardo: "Has information from Red Bull and Renault"

Daniel Ricciardo announced this week that he will leave after two seasons at Renault for McLaren. The promise to reach to the top with Renault is therefore not kept and it remains to be seen whether this will be possible at McLaren.

The team from Woking was convincingly the fourth team behind the top three in 2019, but is also coming out of a deep valley. McLaren has therefore started the way up, while Renault (the number four of 2018) seems to be stagnating. Certainly in view of the upcoming rule changes for 2022 this changeover offers little certainty, even former F1-driver Mika Salo thinks this is the case.

"It's quite a risk for Ricciardo, but a win in the lottery for McLaren," Salo told the Finnish broadcaster MTV. "They get an experienced driver who brings information from Red Bull and Renault. McLaren is improving as a team and could be in good shape next year with a new engine supplier".

Salo also believes that he will go to a team where the dynamics with his teammate will be better than with Esteban Ocon at Renault and that is also better for the performance. "Those two are definitely going to have fun and if something is fun, you're also making progress".