McLaren on Ricciardo's troubles: 'He's used to the opposite'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo stepped into the McLaren car for the first time this season with high expectations. Unfortunately, the season is not going as planned and the Australian driver has problems with the handling of the car. In an interview with Auto, Motor und Sport McLaren chief engineer Andrea Stella tells us more.
"Our car requires some special adjustments in driving style. It is the opposite of what Daniel was used to at Renault. Daniel prefers to roll into the corner quickly and not brake as aggressively as our car requires", the engineer begins.
For Stella, Ricciardo's development is not surprising: "I like to compare it to a musician. You can explain to a guitarist exactly how to play his instrument, but it takes a long time before he can give his first concert. Progress can only be seen very slowly after many hours of practice."
But Ricciardo won't get that time: "Unfortunately, in today's Formula 1 you can't practice properly. The winter tests have been reduced to a minimum. Even Friday practice is an hour shorter now. And you have to prepare for the race. You can't make a driver do systematic exercises to adapt better to the car."
Ricciardo has a positive attitude
The Australian is currently on 50 points in the championship, but teammate Lando Norris scored more than twice as much, at 114 points. Still, Stella is positive about their new driver. "His motivation is very high and he always enjoys his work, even though it was clear what a long road it is. That's not always the case when a driver can't find that last tenner. That's why I remain optimistic about his future."
"We tried to adapt the car to Daniel's natural driving style. But the main goal of the engineers is just to improve the aerodynamic efficiency", said Stella. Hopefully, Ricciardo will manage to adapt his driving style in the second half of the season.