F1 Portugal GP 2021: Ricciardo’s “nightmare” begins to live at McLaren

T.there would always be pressure here Daniel Ricciardo‘s shoulders this season after his last career change, departure Renault sign with McLaren. It hasn’t gone well for the Australian so far.

After the end, behind teammates Lando Norris in each of the first two races of the season – seventh compared to fourth in Bahrain and sixth compared to third in Imola – Ricciardo had impressive times in practice the Grand Prix of Portugal.

When the real action began, it finished only 16th in the first quarter and was embarrassed to be the big name that didn’t make it through the second quarter.

Ricciardo’s disappointment

“It was messy” Ricciardo said after his disappointing qualifying in Portugal.

“The first lap on the softs wasn’t really helped by any traffic, but it was just a disappointing day.

“Getting out in the first quarter really is like your worst nightmare as a driver.”

The Australian talked about getting a good night’s sleep before the race, where he wants to weave his car through his backpack.

The pressure of Norris’ bright start

The fact that Norris got such a good start to the season and the fact that the pace of McLaren Car is sometimes clearly seen, means that there is immense pressure on it Ricciardo.

He’s in another new car, so there’s always been a chance for teething troubles. There is always a need for patience when a driver is on a new team, especially in modern F1 where practice runs are so limited.

Still Ricciardo didn’t expect to be this far down in the third race of the season and would have loved to challenge Norris more in the first two races.

Instead, Ricciardo even had to give up a position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix because Norris was faster than him and asked the team to let him through to avoid the Australian’s spray.

“I honestly think the team was fair enough, they gave me time to show my pace,” he said after the race about this incident.

“I think I’ll have to swallow my pride there.

“I’m not going to get punched, it was fair enough.”

Reasons for optimism

Most F1 fans want to see Ricciardo Succeed as he is one of the most optimistic drivers on the grid and in the sport in general.

There is reason to be optimistic because it also took time to settle in Renault. But at some point he got there well and had some success.

In 2019, his first yellow season, he only finished four points in the first 13 races. But he then had four more points in the last eight races.

Last year he scored points in his last eleven races of the season, started slowly again and finished strong and even took a couple of podiums.

With time, Ricciardo will get it going for sure McLaren also. However, this weekend he starts on the 16th. As he himself said, it was a “nightmare”.