Seidl confirms Ricciardo’s 2023 contract

Andreas Seidl says Daniel Ricciardo has a contract to keep racing at McLaren in 2023.

Earlier, team CEO Zak Brown indicated there may be "mechanisms" to end the struggling Australian’s deal, as Ricciardo had not lived up to "expectations".

But the 32-year-old says he has since "spoken" with Brown.

"We’ve had a catch up and the clarity is clear for us moving forward. My contract is clear with the team - until the end of next year I’m fully committed. I’ve certainly voiced that.

"And I do truly believe that I have the full support of the team and we want to do it together."

Team boss Seidl told Sky Deutschland at Baku: "Yes, Daniel has a contract with us."

The German also said Ricciardo will continue to receive the team’s full support.

"Formula 1 is a team sport and it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s mechanics, engineers or the driver," said Seidl. "It’s important that we have a culture within the team where internally we are very clear about things that we need to improve."

He also seems to disagree with Brown that it’s appropriate to criticise drivers publicly.

"It is very clear that it is my job as team boss to protect the team from the outside world," said Seidl. "In the last 20 years I have not seen a driver become faster because he was publicly criticised.

"We have a contract with Daniel for next year and that’s why we’re all staying calm, keeping working hard and trying to find those percentages that he is missing at the moment.

"And then we look forward to better results with him again."