Ricciardo's performance coach: "World title one day is 100% the goal"

Michael Italiano has been Daniel Ricciardo's personal trainer since 2017. The Australian was already there when Ricciardo was still racing for Red Bull Racing and via Renault he has now ended up at McLaren. Italiano hopes that his client will get a serious chance at the world title there. Hopefully the new 2022 regulations will work out well for McLaren.

"A world title one day is 100% the goal – it's always been the goal from day one," Italiano said in an interview with Express. "I have full belief that he's good enough for a world championship, and he's got full belief that he's the best. If the car is good enough, he'll make it happen."

How strong will McLaren be in 2022?

The new regulations will bring with them an unknown element next year. It remains to be seen if McLaren knows how to respond to the rule changes in the right way. "Who's going to be the top team? Will it stay in the same order? We just don't know. Heading into testing and race one in Bahrain will be super exciting."

One advantage for the number eight in the 2021 World Championship may be that the car will feel completely different. Last season Ricciardo struggled in the MCL35M which resulted in a difficult first half of the season and after that not everything went smoothly. It is possible that the 2022 car is more suited to Ricciardo.

Despite giving his debut season at McLaren a score of 6.0, Ricciardo did manage to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time since 2018. In Italy, he managed to cross the finish line first on the Monza circuit after a crash between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.