Who is Daren Stanley – McLaren F1 strategist behind “Daren” saga with Daniel Ricciardo?

One of the toughest jobs in Formula 1 is hands down being a race engineer at McLaren, especially for the seat currently owned by Daniel Ricciardo. Tom Stallard just doesn’t seem to be taking a break from the already famous ‘Daren’ saga. Also at the Grand Prix of Styria, Stallard referred to the Australian on team radio as “Daren”.

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This led many to wonder who Daren is? Is Stallard just mispronouncing ‘Daniel’ as ‘Daren’ or is there an actual person by the name of ‘Daren’?

Well the truth is that the McLaren race engineer referred it to another crew on the team. Daren Stanley has been a McLaren racing strategist for over five seasons.

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The Briton joined the team in 2012 as a support engineer and later took on the strategic role before the 2016 season. The interesting thing about Daren is that thanks to Stallard he somehow got famous without showing his real face in front of the camera.

For those who assume the Daren saga began with Ricciardo, you are wrong. This has been the case since Carlos Sainz’s stint at McLaren.

Daren appears on Carlos Sainz’s radio

The first time Daren appeared on the radio was in 2019. During one of the Spanish Grand Prix, Stallard came up on the Sainz radio and said, “Daren, it’s Tom… Sorry Carlos”.

The Spaniard then gave a hilarious response and said, “Hello, Tom. I am Daren ”. Daren reappeared on the same route the next season. Only this time it was during pre-season testing.

“Daren, currently measured degrees … uh, sorry Carlos is currently measuring degrees similar to the race,” he said before being interrupted by Sainz. “Hello Tom. Daren again,” replied the Spaniard. Stallard giggled and replied, “It’s every time we come to Spain.”

McLaren race engineer continues the ‘Daren’ saga with Ricciardo

The McLaren race engineer thought Spain was the problem, having made the mistake twice on this particular track.

But was he right? Was Spain the Problem? Well no

Stallard made the mistake again with Ricciardo in 2021. This time at the French Grand Prix.

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“Daren, do you think… Oh, sorry. Daniel, do you think this is a tire for the first lap? ”Asked Stallard Ricciardo. While many anticipated a comeback for the Australian, who was very much like Sainz, it never came to be. “Yes, it can be. “Yes,” he replied, keeping it simple.

Just a week later, at the Styrian GP, ​​it was time for the Daren Show again. “Box Daren … Daniel Box,” Stallard said. And this time Ricciardo came back. “Confirm the box. Daren pit lane, ”he said and gave his race engineer a cheeky look.

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Overall, the number of times Daren shows up on McLaren team radio is growing every day. And for the first time, Stallard made this mistake on two consecutive race weekends. So will the ex-British rower make it to the upcoming Styrian GP for the third time in a row?