Daniel Ricciardo has spoken candidly of his issues at McLaren since joining the team in 2021, admitting to the struggles he faced trying to unlock performance.
For almost a decade, few in the F1 paddock would have ranked Ricciardo as anything lower than a top-5 driver on the grid.
The Australian’s combination of raw speed, tenacity and aggressive racecraft allowed him to carve out an impressive haul of victories and podiums at Red Bull.
Ricciardo’s contract with McLaren, therefore, was initially regarded as a mutually beneficial investment for both sides.
Ricciardo could maximize McLaren’s current performance, whilst the Woking-based squad had the potential to climb to the front of Formula 1.
In their two years together, this did not transpire, and Ricciardo’s future is now largely known.
As quoted by racingnews365, speaking on Beyond the Grid, the 33-year-old shed some light on his issues:
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“There’s a lot of attention to detail. We didn’t not get it right because we were all just leaving early and being lazy – it was probably the opposite…
“Sometimes we probably put too much thought and too much effort.
“If I knew what we didn’t get right as a unit, then I guess we would have found a way.
“So I can’t be critical of the way we tried to attack it, and we put in hours and hours and really did try to solve the puzzle.
“But I guess, on both sides, we can ultimately, now, just put our hands up and say, ‘look, we tried and didn’t quite succeed’.”
Oscar Piastri has been selected as Ricciardo’s replacement at McLaren, and his progress will be closely observed throughout the 2023 season.
Considering the drivers at F1’s top 5 constructors from 2022 have multi-year contracts, it remains unclear whether Ricciardo will be able to make a return to the F1 grid.
