Months After Ugly Divorce With Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren Boss Redeems Himself as $505,000 Move Pays Off

In Formula 1, it takes just a few tenths of a second to go from hero to zero. For Zak Brown, however, it was a story in reverse. All the way back from last season, and in the backdrop of how McLaren‘s 2023 season began, Brown was the antagonist. Many even wanted him out! But look how the tables have turned. From the ousting of fan-favorite, Daniel Ricciardo to signing the tainted Oscar Piastri. He has executed his master plan.

While at McLaren, Ricciardo could never match Lando Norris. And Brown turned to young Oscar Piastri to fill in those shoes. What ensued was an ugly legal tussle between the trio of McLaren, Piastri, and Alpine that took the shine away from the young Australian’s eventual F1 debut. It all capped off with the woeful MCL60 in its previous iteration. It seemed at one point that Brown’s time as CEO was up.

Zak Brown plays his hand beautifully at McLaren

Fast forward to now, and the $505,000 he paid to get Piastri onboard seems like peanuts for the dividends he’s paying off with his performances on the track. After all the flak that he’s caught over the past months, its time that Brown was finally vindicated.

On the latest episode of the F1 Nation podcast, Argentine journalist, Juan Fossaroli said, “Everybody was thinking last year when he dropped Daniel [Ricciardo]; ‘Wow, wow. I don’t think its the right decision.’ And all of a sudden with Oscar [Piastri] and Alpine. Now, it’s paid off. I think Zak [Brown] did a great move over there and he is thinking of the future of the team, not tomorrow.”

Read More: Zak Brown Reiterates His Trust in Oscar Piastri as $10,000,000 Legal Risk Proves Worth the Gamble

Piastri is thriving at McLaren. But the Honey Badger isn’t doing too bad himself.

Daniel Ricciardo gives verdict on F1 comeback

Ricciardo had a stellar comeback weekend in Formula 1. At the Hungarian GP, he was strapped into arguably the worst car on the grid. After a solid qualifying session, he dragged himself to P13. In the race, after a lap 1 incident, he recovered well to finish right where he started.

After Qualifying, he beamed, “How smiling am I on a scale of 1 to 10? 34769! When the weekend started, I was aware that there was a long way to go. I tried not to let the result affect me, but obviously I’m a rider and I always expect something from myself, even though I tried to eliminate any expectations as much as possible. Getting in the car for qualifying, I felt really relaxed and happy to be back and able to push the car to the limit. This is something I haven’t had in the last 2 years and explains why I needed to unplug a bit.” [translated via Google Translate]

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Can Piastri and Ricciardo both thrive on their respective teams?