F1 News
Ricciardo struggles with the McLaren due to "special driving style"
- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo has been a little lacklustre this season, unlike his teammate Lando Norris. The young Brit is usually faster than the veteran, but that has partly to do with the car says McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl. Ricciardo is clearly struggling with the car and where it seemed to go well in Spain, the Australian was invisible again in Monaco. The problem lies in a required driving style, which apparently is difficult to master.
Not enough confidence yet
Andreas Seidl states in conversation with Motorsport.com Seidl states that the team is doing everything they can to help Ricciardo. He doesn't yet have the confidence in the car that a Norris does and his weaknesses lie in braking, as well as getting the maximum out of the car during qualifying. This was clearly visible in Monaco, where Ricciardo failed to advance to Q2 while Norris finished in a decent fifth place on the grid.
Seidl: "I think if you look back since the beginning of the season, we have made good steps forward with him. But in order to drive our car fast at the moment, you need a special driving style which is not natural for Daniel. That's why it's not so easy for him to get the laps in and extract the performance."
And that comes down to confidence, which is currently lacking.
McLaren taking its time
Developing confidence in the car and that required driving style is something that takes time, and that's what the smiling Australian gets from the team. Thus, Seidl continues his story: "We simply have to keep working together now as one team: stay calm, keep analysing, and keep learning. And then there are two things, which is him further adapting to our car. Because obviously, he sees that the potential is there, which is I think the positive thing for him to see that, and then we can pull it off.
"Then, at the same time, we will look at the team side as well and what we can do in order to help him on the car side, to give him back his natural feeling which you need to go fast," whether that is enough for Ricciardo to eventually get as much out of the car as what Norris does, the future will tell.