Daniel Ricciardo News: McLaren would have won F1 title with Australian star

Daniel Ricciardo won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix — Photo: © IMAGO

McLaren

McLaren 'would have won F1 world championship with Daniel Ricciardo'

Daniel Ricciardo was sacked by McLaren in 2022

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 16 March 2026 22:15

A former Ferrari F1 general manager has suggested that McLaren would have still won a world championship had they have kept Daniel Ricciardo at the team.

Ricciardo was previously at McLaren partnering Lando Norris in what once looked like a highly exciting driver pairing.

But the high point for that team in that period came at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, when Ricciardo claimed his eighth career race win in what would become the final success of his career.

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Following poor performance in comparison to the much younger Norris in 2022, McLaren opted to sack Ricciardo before the end of his contract, and he was replaced by Oscar Piastri.

McLaren went on to become a championship-winning outfit in the succeeding years, while Ricciardo was welcomed back into the Red Bull family before ultimately being sacked as a driver with their sister team back in September 2024.

Now, Peter Windsor has suggested that McLaren still would have won championships in 2024 and 2025 had they have kept Ricciardo at the wheel of their cars, claiming his experience was a perfect compliment to Norris' skill.

"I always made the point that if McLaren had kept Daniel [Ricciardo], they still would have won the world championship," Windsor said on the CameronCC YouTube channel.

"With Lando, things would have worked out about the same, and there would have been less aggro in the team, because Daniel has a little bit more road dust on him, and knows how to handle these situations, but he still would have been very quick and done a good job."

What is Daniel Ricciardo up to now?

Following his axing from VCARB in 2024, Ricciardo opted to retire from F1, and he has not been seen on a racing grid since.

He has, however, taken on a role with Ford Racing as a global ambassador, although that role is not linked with Ford's new partnership with Ricciardo's former Red Bull team.

Through that role, however, Ricciardo has been able to reunite with his former team-mate Max Verstappen, at Ford's season launch at the beginning of the season.

On top of this, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has suggested that Ricciardo may also visit the F1 paddock this year as a guest of the Red Bull garage, with fans desperately hoping to see him at an F1 race weekend.

In the meantime, Ricciardo has been spotted at plenty of Ford Racing events, and driving a number of Ford cars.

F1 McLaren Daniel Ricciardo Peter Windsor