'Ricciardo departure linked to ten million euro loss at McLaren'

McLaren has brought out their 2022 annual report, and although the carmaker and all racing teams fared much better financially in 2022, losses were still recorded. A hefty loss was also recorded at the F1 team. The dismissal of Daniel Ricciardo probably has a lot to do with that.

McLaren moves forward financially

McLaren has a wide range of luxury street cars as well as a large range of racing cars and teams with which they compete in multiple racing championships. McLaren Racing Limited is active in IndyCar, Formula E and Extreme E and has turned a turnover of more than £300 million by 2022. That is a hefty increase of more than £100 million compared to 2021.

That increase is due to an increase in sponsorship income, more hospitality income at race events since covid restrictions no longer apply and the inclusion of IndyCar receipts. It has not been profitable, at least the F1 arm of McLaren Limited has made a loss like last year.

'Ricciardo major share in McLaren F1 branch loss'

Speedcafe.com interpreted the racing brand's annual figures and saw a loss of nine million pounds (over 10 million euros). Compared to the previous year, McLaren did well. 2021 was a loss of £32.6 million. Judging by what McLaren wrote in the report about the F1 team's losses in 2022, keeping Daniel Ricciardo on would have resulted in a much smaller loss.

Ricciardo did not leave McLaren by choice in 2022, but was bought out of his contract by the team, freeing up space for, the cleverly snatched from Alpine, Oscar Piastri. McLaren wrote in the report: "Pressures across all costs as well as a one-off provision for driver costs and increased costs related to a return to pre-covid hospitality levels have all contributed to this.”

Speedcafe sees that "one-off expenditure on driver costs" as the sum of money McLaren had to pay to Ricciardo who was no longer allowed to serve out his current contract in Formula One at McLaren. The same medium reported at the time that the buyout amount for Ricciardo would be around £17 million.