Daniel Ricciardo makes “breakthrough” with McLaren F1 car

Ricciardo qualified seventh at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday, beating his teammate Lando Norris, who had a disrupted Q3 session, by four tenths.

While Ricciardo managed to start two of the first three Grand Prix of 2021 ahead of Norris, he struggled to adapt to his new car, which shone through especially on Sundays. A week after a somewhat disappointing Portuguese Grand Prix, in which Ricciardo didn’t make it to the second quarter and finished ninth, the Australian competed more than one with the MCL35M in Spain.

Ricciardo stated that setting up McLaren’s new upgrades, which include a slightly redesigned front wing and new floor concept, helped him gain confidence in Barcelona’s fast corners that he lacked in the first three races of the 2021 season.

In the third quarter, Ricciardo was fastest in the first sector, which includes the high-speed turn 3. This shows that his confidence in the car has grown.

“Probably the setup that allowed me to drive better and safer,” said Ricciardo when asked what was behind his winnings compared to a cautious Friday.

“The car was tricky yesterday, I just didn’t have a lot of faith in the high-speed stuff, to be honest.

“Well, I think it showed today. I think we were pretty fast in sector one, I went purple a couple of times.

“As soon as you get into one, you pretty much just jump on the gas and hold on. So I certainly had the confidence to hold on to it today.

“And we brought some updates with us. And I think basically we improved the setup so that the updates work today. So that was probably when we got the pace.”

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When asked if he would describe his performance on Saturday as a breakthrough, Ricciardo replied: “There are still a few corners on the track that I can still find [at], so to speak. So it’s a small breakthrough, let’s put it that way.

“The narrative sure it took some time to get up to speed and I think Lando rode exceptionally well, so those two factors were challenging I think.

“It’s certainly a more positive day and when we say that there’s still a bit of what could have been because we missed the last run [in Q3]. We have no more time. “