'Brown never said which McLaren team Ricciardo will drive in'

Will Buxton thinks Daniel Ricciardo could stay at McLaren, but might leave for the IndyCar team. The Formula 1 journalist and presenter says this on his own Twitter account.

Expansion at McLaren

Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren, has said that the relationship between him and Ricciardo is good despite the disappointing results. Ricciardo's contract at McLaren runs through to 2023, but a notable detail that Buxton has passed on is that Brown has never said he has a contract for the F1 team.

McLaren has been expanding considerably in recent years. After an IndyCar team and Extreme E-team, the British brand will join Formula E from next season. Felix Rosenqvist might be the first driver to join the team in Formula E. The Swede recently extended his contract at McLaren, but it was not mentioned if he would stay with the IndyCar team.

Ricciardo's move

"What's most interesting is the precise wording of what Zak is saying. For while he insists Daniel will still be with McLaren in 2023, and they want to give him a winning car, he never categorically states Daniel will be with McLaren in F1. And their only winning car is in Indy," Buxton said.

According to the latest rumours, Ricciardo has a clause in his contract whereby he can leave McLaren. The question is whether Ricciardo can get out from under his F1 contract and switch to McLaren's winning IndyCar team. Should this be the case, there are at least enough candidates for McLaren to put in the F1 car in 2023.