Brown: "Ricciardo was convinced by the results achieved in 2019"

Zak Brown is happy to bring Daniel Ricciardo in to McLaren. The CEO of the team was already looking for the next step to help the team and in Ricciardo Brown expects that the team will be able to take the next step towards the top teams. In an interview with Sky Sports he talks about the choice for the Australian.

"I think bringing in a Grand Prix winner like Daniel is a signal that we're going in the right direction. A couple of years ago we tried to get him to join us, but then he didn't choose us. Later he told me that his choice then was not McLaren because the results of the years then were not positive", recognizes Brown.

Friendship won't get in the way

"The fact that we have achieved such good results last year, that the shareholders have confidence in us and that from next year we will drive Mercedes engines indicates that we are moving in the right direction". Ricciardo comes to McLaren for Carlos Sainz, who in turn is heading towards Ferrari. In the past year Ricciardo has been fooling around a lot with Lando Norris, including in press conferences.

Brown doesn't expect that friendship to play a negative role. "When they get into a car, they're both very serious. Of course they're both great personalities, you can really call them favourites with the fans, so all in all we've got a really cool lineup on and off the track for 2021", concludes Brown.