Daniel Ricciardo has the feeling that he has settled in at McLaren more quickly in his new environment than when he previously switched the Formula 1 team to Renault.
Australian out-qualified Lando Norris finished seventh and three places behind his teammate on his McLaren debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix at the opening of the season, although Ricciardo was later found to be hampered by ground damage caused by an early hit from the AlphaTauri driver caused by Pierre Gasly.
It was a much stronger first race compared to his Renault debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, and Ricciardo believes this is partly due to how quickly he was able to adapt to life at McLaren.
Ricciardo’s McLaren move was made difficult by a lack of pre-season testing, but the 31-year-old found that an intense integration program over the winter helped speed the settling-in process.
“You’ve been working pretty hard on me over the past few months,” said Ricciardo. “I think they did a pretty excellent job bringing me up to date and training me as best they could with the team.”
When asked how long it takes a driver to get used to a new team, Ricciardo replied: “It’s hard to really know. From my previous experience with Renault, I particularly remember it being race three before I felt like I had a decent weekend behind me.
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“I’m not saying that I was fully up to date until the third race, but it was like I finally got over that hurdle. When I think back to Melbourne [2019] With Renault, I feel a little more comfortable and better prepared here today.
“It probably helps that there are a lot less distractions here than in Melbourne for my home race, but I feel like I’ve taken a step forward. But knowing when I’ll do a perfect lap, hopefully not for too long, but I can’t answer that at the moment. “
And Ricciardo has already made a big impression on McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl, who believes the positive personality exuded by his new driver will be invaluable to the Woking team.
“I really liked everything that I saw in terms of his speed in qualifying and the race in his entire career – and that was the reason I wanted to get him on board,” explained Seidl.
On the subject of matching items
“He’s also a great character, a great personality who gives both of them a lot of positive within the team, which is important in this sport – it’s a team sport, it’s a national sport and these heroes of our sport are the ones that everyone sees up to, also within the team.
“When the people in the garage see a guy coming in after a bad day, a driver, our hero, who is positive, motivated and gets everyone going again, and that’s very important too, of course.
“But here, too, the most important thing is the performance on the track and I’m very happy to have him on board. I am sure that he will have many great results for us in the future. “
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