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McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown has revealed that he gave Daniel Ricciardo a strict deadline to perform, before they considered replacing him with another driver during his final season with the team.

Ricciardo competed with McLaren from 2021 until 2022, but was eventually axed from the team in favour of Oscar Piastri after his performances failed to live up to the expectations of the team or match those of team-mate Lando Norris.

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Speaking to the Mail Sport, Brown shed some light on their decision to replace Ricciardo, and revealed that he was given an early performance deadline – the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, even though he wasn’t axed until the end of 2022.

“We were very transparent with Daniel,” Brown said. We loosely gave him until Monaco [2022] to prove himself. It didn’t work out and Oscar came high in our thoughts.

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“Not only was he our reserve driver but we had a relationship with Mark Webber, who was managing him then as he does now. Oscar had pedigree – he was winning in junior formulas in his first year.”

Brown reveals how McLaren signed Oscar Piastri

Despite securing a win for McLaren at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, it was Norris who emerged as the more consistent driver in 2022, where he claimed points finishes in 14 races compared to Ricciardo’s meagre five.

“At the same time Lando [Norris] was killing it for us, so blooding another new, young driver was a ‘risk’ we could afford to take,” Brown continued.

“Daniel, by the way, was thought not to be a risk but how did that turn out, unfortunately, for whatever reason?

“So the stars aligned. We signed Oscar in stages. Being our reserve driver he was already familiar with us.”

The decision to sign Piastri has certainly paid off, with the Aussie now a six-time grand prix winner and just three victories away from surpassing Ricciardo’s career win tally of eight.

Heading into the Imola Grand Prix weekend, Piastri sits at the top of the drivers’ standings and has enjoyed three race victories on the bounce in Bahrain, Jeddah and Miami – demonstrating his supreme racecraft in a battle for the lead with Max Verstappen.