It's no secret that Daniel Ricciardo has struggled at the start of his McLaren career. However, the French GP might have been a turning point.
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In a sport that boasts larger-than-life competitors with massive chips on their shoulder, Daniel Ricciardo is something of an anomaly. His cheery, relaxed demeanour masks the competitive instinct that made him such a must-see driver in his Red Bull Racing days. However, the Australian also comes across as universally popular among Formula 1 fans. That says something, given how tribal fans can be. Thus, it should come as little surprise that his struggles at McLaren left many disappointed.
Having secured two podium finishes with Renault last season, Ricciardo took the plunge and moved to McLaren. It was a move that made sense back then – they were the more competitive side.
And one look at the Alpines of this year makes it clear that Ricciardo would have been stuck in less competitive machinery had he stayed on with the French team.
However, the process of bedding in at McLaren has not been easy. To make things worse, he’s been outshone by teammate Lando Norris, who is arguably the best driver in the midfield right now.
The young Brit is the only driver so far this season to notch up points finishes in every race. This includes two podium finishes at Monaco and Imola.
In contrast, Ricciardo has not competed for podiums thus far. Indeed, at Monaco when Norris finished third, Ricciardo finished a lowly 12th.
However, after the race he said there was nowhere to go but up. And thus far, he’s been proven right.
The fact that after Monaco the next race was also a street circuit might have left some worried for Ricciardo. Yet while he qualified on 13th, he finished 9th in the race.
It wasn’t his best points finish till that point – that would be his 6th place in Imola. But it was a clear improvement, although it’s also worth noting that street circuits are a different beast to regular race tracks.
But Norris’ P5 finish at Baku showed that the McLaren can be competitive. It was just down to Ricciardo to unlock his car’s potential.
Indeed, that has been the biggest challenge of the season for him thus far. Everyone knows that neither he nor the car lack pace. Yet, as McLaren boss Andreas Seidl discussed after Monaco, teething issues persisted.
“In order to drive our car fast at the moment, you need a special driving style which is not natural for Daniel Ricciardo. That’s why it’s not easy for him to get the laps in and extract the performance,” Seidl had said.
“We simply have to keep working together as one team. Stay calm, keep learning, keep analysing and do two things, which is him further adapting to our car, because he sees that the potential is there. Which is the positive thing for him to see that and that Lando can pull it off.
“And at the same time we look at the team side as well to see what we can do to help him on the car side, to get back this natural feeling, which you need to go fast. That’s where we are.”
Formula 1 racing, at its most basic, is about getting a feel of the limit of the car and then doing whatever you can to stay there. This can be easier said than done at times, especially since all teams engineer their cars differently.
Norris looks far better in the McLaren right now because he’s been in the team longer, plus the 2021 cars are largely carry-overs from last year.
Ricciardo, on the other hand, had to master the new car just as he became comfortable in the Renault. It sounds easy, but is often anything but.
That he now feels more comfortable in the car was evident with his drive in France. He might have only started 10th on the grid, but even reaching Q3 was noteworthy.
That he then made up four places with some wonderful overtakes bodes well for him and McLaren. But perhaps the biggest indicator of his mindset could be heard on the team radio.
Ricciardo is, by nature, fairly chirpy and outspoken – only his recent struggles had subdued him. Yet when he overtook Alonso, he let out a cry of celebration followed by a “let’s go!” on the radio.
And after the race, he was even more clear about how it was he felt in the car.
All aboard that train! ?
Great job today, @DanielRicciardo. ?#FrenchGP ?? pic.twitter.com/UJrO1WVxHc
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) June 20, 2021
amp-tweet tweetid=”1406689450155986950″
“So this car will feel like home and I think today it started to feel a little more like home. The next two (races) coming up are hopefully fun ones as well, with some good moves, battles.”
The next two races are in Austria, a circuit where Daniel Ricciardo was once cheered on voraciously as a Red Bull driver.
Maybe a few daring moves might get the local crowd to sing his name again – and get his McLaren career further back on track.
