'Unhappy' Ricciardo takes care of transfer Sainz: 'Could have prevented this'

Carlos Sainz made the switch to Ferrari in 2021 but Zak Brown now indicates that this was only possible because Daniel Ricciardo was unhappy at Renault.

Before the 2020 Formula 1 season had even started, Sebastian Vettel had already been told that he could leave Ferrari, Sainz knew that he would be his successor in the red and it became clear that Ricciardo was going to McLaren. However, these changes were only possible because of an unfortunate Daniel.

''We had an option in the contract to prevent the changeover to Ferrari,'' says Brown at Beyond the Grid. However, according to McLaren's CEO, Sainz was allowed to go to McLaren because Ricciardo could suddenly be brought in. McLaren wanted Ricciardo before, but the Australian chose Renault.

''We had tried it once before with Daniel, so he was always high on our list and with the arrival of Andreas Seidl we always kept in touch with Daniel. We started the negotiations with Daniel and had the feeling that he wasn't happy at Renault. We could have kept Carlos, but now it is good for both of us. We get Daniel and Carlos can go to Ferrari," says Brown.

Despite the imminent departure, the cooperation within McLaren remains very good. ''It's impressive how we've maintained the relationship and maintained harmony within the team. Carlos gives everything he has and we do the same for him. If you look at Vettel at Ferrari, Perez at Racing Point and even Daniel at Renault. There isn't much harmony there anymore,'' Brown concludes with a sneer at the competition.