"Getting those last tenths out, like Max and Lewis do, Ricciardo doesn't"

F1 News

8 August 2021 at 12:37
Last update 8 August 2021 at 15:41
  • GPblog.com

Daniel Ricciardo has so far failed to live up to expectations at McLaren. He is currently ninth in the championship, a position that pales in comparison to that of teammate Lando Norris, who is third in the standings.

His best result was a fifth place, while Norris has been on the podium three times. For Ricciardo, it's only his first year in the McLaren, but halfway through the season he expected more. On the Dutch website Formule1.nl Tom Coronel calls him one of the five disappointments of the first half of the season.

Ricciardo disappoints at McLaren

"It's too obvious not to mention Ricciardo," said Coronel. "The difference with Norris is really too big. The best part was that after Monaco, he admitted it himself: 'Norris does things with that car that I cannot do'. If you say that, it's really already done."

The analyst and racing driver therefore doesn't think there's much room for improvement. "I don't see him straightening it out at McLaren either. He can't eat those last two tenths out of the dashboard, like Lewis and Max do," continued Coronel, for whom it was already over and done with when Ricciardo made the choice to switch from Red Bull Racing to Renault. "He went for the money. And as soon as you make that decision, you know it's not going to work out and you can't do it. A nice marketing guy, but not a killer."