“You need a special driving style which is not natural for Daniel” – Seidl
Ricciardo’s opening season with McLaren so far has proved challenging for the Aussie driver as he tries to keep up with his new teammate Lando Norris.
Given Norris’ experience with the team and car, it’s no surprise that he is ahead at this point in the season, however, the 21-year-old British driver has time and time again said he awaits the moment that Daniel clicks with the MCL35M – and then he’s in for a fight to remain ahead.
Team Principal, Andreas Seidl recently said that in order to get the most out of the McLaren machine, you need “a special driving style” that isn’t natural for Ricciardo.
However, Seidl also highlighted the strides of improvement seen since the beginning of the season;
“I think if you look back since the beginning of the season, we have made good steps forward with him,” said Seidl.
“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.
“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.”
Speaking after the Monaco GP, Ricciardo acknowledged the sizeable gap between himself and his teammate but plans to switch off for a few days ahead of round six at the Azerbaijan GP in June;
“There’s differences on the data and this is why Lando’s quicker in that corner and I see that, but I’m not convinced I’m able to do that,” he said.
“But we’ll see. Maybe it’s still a bit of me trying to get used to the car, but I’m sure they’ll check everything as well. As you say, when it’s that far off, it’s a bit tough.”
“I’m obviously going to keep working at it but I feel this weekend has been so far off and so much on the back foot, part of me also wants to just switch off for a few days, otherwise it’s like paralysis over analysis,” he said.
“I’ve been there before and don’t want to go back to that.”
