Ricciardo got off to a slow start to his McLaren stint after switching from Renault and being overtaken by teammate Lando Norris while trying to get comfortable in the 2021 spec MCL35M.
At the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, Ricciardo claimed he had made a “small breakthrough” with the car, which resulted in a seventh place in qualifying and a sixth place at the finish, two places ahead of Norris.
After the race, Ricciardo said Barcelona was “definitely a more encouraging weekend” as he “took a small step forward”.
Team boss Seidl agreed that “it was easy to see that Daniel felt much more comfortable in the car,” not only because of the team’s immediate results in the P3 battle against Ferrari, but also because of his long-term car development.
With more confidence in the car, Ricciardo will be able to pay more attention to helping McLaren with their 10-year F1 experience as the team prepares for the new regulatory cycle of 2022.
“Certainly one reason why we wanted to get Daniel on board was that he obviously has a lot of experience and knows what he needs as a driver to drive fast,” said Seidl.
“And that’s why I’m really looking forward to the race weekends when he feels very comfortable with the car, because then we’ll see the real advantage not only in terms of speed, but also in terms of his experience, which helps us with this to develop ourselves further. ” the car continues together with Lando.
“As a team boss, I just need two drivers who push each other, who bring the other cars onto the track. Because if you want to stay in the constructors’ championship in this battle, there always have to be two cars. There are always two drivers who can do good To score points. “
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Seidl assumes that it will be a matter of time before Ricciardo runs on all cylinders, but praised the Australian for staying calm on his challenging start in Woking.
“I am obviously very satisfied with the integration of Daniel into our team,” said Seidl.
“I think we all know what Daniel is, what character he is, so I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise how he approached these challenging first races with us.
“I think everyone on the team side who was involved on this side of the integration process engineering or on the garage side did a great job to keep calm too.
“We’re not where we want to be, where Daniel wants to be yet, but as I’ve said many times, I’m 100 percent convinced that it’s just about more races and then we’ll see the performance as we do are used to it from Daniel. ” “”
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