Daniel Ricciardo has never been backwards when it comes to moving forward. As a relentlessly positive person, he admits that winter is the only time negative voices get a little louder in his head.
This winter he learned a new job for the second time in three seasons. After switching from Red Bull to Renault in 2019, he has now switched to McLaren. Two races in the new season admit that he is still not entirely satisfied with his newest seat, his fifth in Formula 1.
The fight was never clearer than at Imola when McLaren asked Ricciardo to overtake Lando Norris because the British driver, his team-mate and a man 10 years his junior were faster.
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“Got it,” Ricciardo replied calmly on the radio. He knew Norris was faster.
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Ricciardo’s specific problems are pleasantly familiar to the layman. Instead of mentioning the differences in effort between the Renault and Mercedes engines, or the feel of the McLaren-by-wire system of the McLaren, he sometimes struggles with the mirrors.
“There are some visual differences, such as the seating position and the mirrors can be a little different. So if you turn right, a 90-degree right-handed person, the mirror may block your line of sight where the Renault said it was a 45-degree corner, ”he told Australian magazine EFTM. “So there are little things that your vision has to adjust to.”
There are other things too, of course. Norris had two years in the same car with very few tweaks to figure out what it can and can’t do. Ricciardo is still struggling with the “feeling and perception of” Okay, I’m at the limit “or” Oh no, there is a little more “.
He added, “I think it’s like a new sport, it’s like muscle memory telling you how to hit the ball right at some point, and that’s like finding the limit of a new car. I just have to do it a few more times for my muscle memory to tell me that I’m feeling comfortable here at the limit. “
There are other practical aspects as well. When Ricciardo pitted for his first stop as a McLaren driver, he was reminded on the radio “Team in Orange”. They weren’t kidding. The McLaren mechanics were clearly unimpressed in 2013 when Lewis Hamilton, new to a Mercedes driver, accidentally stopped in their pits while waiting for Jenson Button.
Few drivers have ever won a world title in their first season with a team: since the great Ayrton Senna made it with McLaren in 1988, only one other driver has managed the feat, and Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2007 took the title from practically awarded Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s vicious fights.
And it was clear to everyone how difficult it was for drivers in 2021 to find their way into new cars after an off-season roundabout triggered by Carlos Sainz’s move to Ferrari. Sergio Perez, considered one of the most talented drivers on the grid, says he feels “miles away” from where he should be in his new Red Bull. Sainz surprised the Ferrari engineers with regular visits to the Ferrari factory, a confirmation from the Spaniard that he is still “far from being the Carlos of McLaren”. Even the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel says he “doesn’t feel at home in the car”. This can be seen in the fact that he leaves Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll behind by seven places in the championship and does not yet have to bring home a point.
Ricciardo is also sensitive to changes due to his driving style, although he has done this a few times before. His “lick the stamp and mail it” overtaking maneuvers are his signature, but they are delivered right on the edge of what can be done in a car. They include a tremendous amount of feeling that with the shortest pre-season testing period of just three days and pre-race training time reduced from four hours to three hours, the Australian simply didn’t have time to develop.
On top of that, this weekend he will be racing at Portimao, where he has only driven once before (like most of the others, of course) and is unlikely to be any more comfortable.
What are his hopes and expectations in Portugal? “Progress,” he says. He wants to be world champion one day, but right now he just wants to see right through his mirrors.
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