McLaren talked to Daniel Ricciardo about a potential switch to IndyCar for 2023, CEO Zak Brown has revealed.
On Wednesday, the team announced that the Australian would leave the Woking-based squad at the end of the 2022 campaign, cutting short his deal by one year.
Ricciardo has not yet asserted what his plans for the 2023 season are, however he has been linked with moves to Alpine and Haas.
The 33-year-old raced for Alpine in 2019 and 2020 under the Renault name, prior to his switch to McLaren.
McLaren has a team set up in IndyCar, and it will enter Formula E next year following Mercedes’ exit at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.
Brown revealed that discussions were held with Ricciardo over an IndyCar drive for next year, but says that he is focused on remaining in F1.
“We spoke about that [an IndyCar switch],” Brown said. “He’s an exceptional racing driver any team he drives for, it’s a privilege to have Daniel drive for you.
“We do have a variety of racing activities. That being said, he’s very focused on F1.
“So of course the door will always be open here at McLaren, but I believe that he has a real desire to continue in F1.”
Despite ending their partnership considerably early, Brown affirms that there are no negative feelings between the two parties.
“I’m going to look back with some very fond memories, some fun times together on and off the track,” he said. “We’re in a business, where Andreas and everybody here at McLaren needs to focus on ultimate performance.
“We hope and wish Daniel the best. There’s absolutely no ill will between us. It’s all very amicable.
“He too has had a good time at McLaren and he’s young, so we hope to see him in a competitive racing car and one of these days, we might see him being a pain for us on the race track and that will be fun because he’s a great competitor.”
McLaren may have spoken to Ricciardo about moving to the turn left club, but if he dignified their words with any reply at all I expect it was two words ending in off.