Ricciardo explains his McLaren Zandvoort F1 opening drama

The Australian had a problem with the right clutch paddle, which he normally uses, and couldn’t get started until the team told him to switch to the unfamiliar left side.

Ricciardo says the incident will lead him to practice more with the left paddle in case a similar situation occurs again.

All F1 steering wheels have a dual clutch paddle arrangement, with the driver always using one side, except in exceptional cases.

Onboard footage from Sunday’s race shows that after Ricciardo stopped on the grid and realized he had a problem, he desperately tried various controls on the steering wheel before waving his left arm to warn officers of a problem – a signal that leads to a delayed start.

Start of the Dutch GP

Photo by: Essay Productions – Chris Schotanus

He said to his team: “I can’t get first gear” and “he went to the anti-stall”. His engineer answered immediately: “Left start, left start.” After he stopped waving, Ricciardo was then able to safely escape when the lights went out.

“There were some stressful moments at the start,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com. “We have two clutch paddles and you have your preferred one, and if you’re right-handed you probably choose to start with the right hand, and that one chose not to work.”

“So I was stressed on the grid because it wasn’t captivating. So I thought I had a transmission problem. I waved my hands thinking I had to be taken offline. And then I tried the left one, pulled it first and it worked.

“So I was trying to figure out how to get a start with my left hand. I was prepared for a pretty bad start.”

When asked if he would practice more with the left clutch paddle, Ricciardo said: “I should. I think Monaco, you are forced to leave the box because you are turning the other way. So it’s easier with your left hand. “I like to turn the bike. But I’ll practice a few more times!”

When the race started, George Russell passed him on the exit to Turn 1 and Lance Stroll drove along the exit and almost made it.

Ricciardo managed to get back in front of both at Turn 3, however, and later on the lap he overtook Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo for ninth place and a net gain of one place.

“As expected, Russell caught me straight away,” he said. “But actually I managed to get it back. And then Giovinazzi too, I think in Turn 7. So I won a position when I thought I was going to lose a lot. In a way, that was fun. “

Later in the race, Ricciardo had a fight with Sergio Perez, who was ordered to stop the Mexican to help teammate Lando Norris. He eventually finished the points in 11th place, just behind Norris.

“I tried to hold on to Perez,” he said. “But he was quick. I mean, in hindsight, I could probably have thrown him off course. But I think it was a matter of time before the word got around. So yeah that was it.

“We tried a strategy to say, help the team, help Lando with this. I think we tried. I just don’t think it worked. So of course we will try to analyze it now and see what we could have done better. “

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