In what could be another jolt to Daniel Ricciardo, reports suggest McLaren is interested in Oscar Piastri for its future driver lineup

After another bad weekend for Daniel Ricciardo at Silverstone, it appears as though things are about to get worse for the Australian. McLaren might be looking to line up a few potential replacements for Daniel Ricciardo, with Alpine's reserve driver Oscar Piastri being a surprise candidate. According to F1 journalist Joe Saward, Andreas Seidl is interested in Piastri and is interested in him giving him an opportunity.

On his WordPress blog, Joe Saward wrote:

“Dropping [Fernando] Alonso in favour of [Oscar]Piastri would be a controversial thing to do, even if the logic is to prepare Piastri and not risk losing him. On the face of it, Piastri’s only real option was to join Williams, replacing Nicholas Latifi, but Piastri’s manager Mark Webber is a cunning fellow and also a mate of his former Porsche colleague Andreas Seidl, now team principal of McLaren. Seidl it seems is interested in Piastri.”

He further wrote:

“Daniel [Ricciardo] has a McLaren contract for next year but it is fair to say that he has been a disappointment, despite winning last year in Italy. One might conjecture that McLaren might offer Daniel an elegant exit by putting him into IndyCars as it has not yet confirmed whether Felix Rosenqvist will race IndyCar or Formula E next year.”

He continued:

“But spies in the US are suggesting that this is not a real option as McLaren will be running Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi and Alex Palou, the current IndyCar champion, who is currently racing for Chip Ganassi.”

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A McLaren offer for Oscar Piastri to replace Daniel Ricciardo could cause a domino effect

According to Joe Saward, a McLaren offer for Oscar Piastri as Daniel Ricciardo's replacement could kickstart a domino effect that could eventually force Alpine to ditch Fernando Alonso in favor of the young Australian.

According to the British journalist, Piastri is regarded as being the real deal in the paddock, and Alpine may be forced to rethink its strategy if a McLaren offer to replace Daniel Ricciardo were to be on the table. Saward wrote:

“If McLaren makes Piastri an offer, it would probably be a better choice than a Williams and so one can see that Oscar would prefer that. It is also a splendid lever to get Alpine to ditch Alonso because Piastri is seen as the real deal, rather than being Alonso the real deal from 20 years ago, who never quite delivered on his potential.”

Regardless of what happens, the walls are finally starting to close in on Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren after repeated subpar performances.