Zak Brown created a stir when he stated on Sky Sports that, due to Daniel Ricciardo’s continuing difficulties adjusting to the characteristics of the McLaren car, their time together had not lived up to expectations.
“Obviously we’d like to see Daniel a lot closer to Lando [Norris] and have a good battle within the team,” he said.
“Daniel is still not comfortable with the car, we are trying everything we can. Again, Spain was a disappointing weekend.”
“Beyond Monza [where Ricciardo won] and a few races, in general it didn’t meet his expectations and ours, in terms of what we expected.
Some took Brown ‘s remarks as a hint that Daniel Ricciardo ‘s future with the team could be threatened if he didn’t start to get some good results.
But when asked at the Monaco Grand Prix about Brown’s comments, the Australian driver said he fully accepted the criticism and was as focused as the team on turning things around.
“It’s not false, it’s quite true,” he admitted. “First of all these are comments, I don’t take them personally. My skin is tanned, pretty and also thick [referring to not having thin skin]. No one is going to be harder on me than myself.”
“I don’t want to be competing to be 10th or 12th. Of course it’s been a bit more difficult at times in terms of trying to get up and do my best with this car. But we’re working hard and together on that. The team wants it, I want it, and we’re working on it.”
Ricciardo signed a three-year deal with the team until the end of 2023, but sparked intrigue after the Spanish GP when he suggested talks about his future would start in the summer.
Asked by Motorsport.com to clarify whether or not it was final that he would honor his contract, Ricciardo insisted his comments were due to confusion over the year.
“Yes, it is clear,” he said. “I have a contract until the end of 2023. COVID threw me out of place, so I got confused over the years.”
Ricciardo had a disappointing performance at the recent Spanish Grand Prix, going without points, but revealed that McLaren discovered some issues with his car after the race that contributed to his problems.
While the team won’t reveal specific details about what went wrong, those items have been fixed for Monaco, so there shouldn’t be a repeat of the situation.
“Basically we found a problem with the car,” Ricciardo said. “It was rectified and this weekend everyone is settled. It’s like a new beginning, let’s say.”
But while his McLaren should be running better, Ricciardo reckons he still needs to get more comfortable with the MCL36 in order to achieve better performance.
“I would still like to get more out, sometimes I can see it and then sometimes it becomes less clear,” he continued.
“I think we’ve also had some things that haven’t gone our way, shall we say, and disrupted some of the sessions.”
“It’s a combination of several things, but I think even putting that aside, it’s still been a bit tricky for me to always connect 100% with the car and feel like I can put out those spectacular laps.
“There’s been a few races where it’s been good, but honestly I’m still working on it. I’d love to say I’m going to be half a second faster and unbelievable every race from now on, and I’m working towards that. It’s still an ongoing process.”
