A resurgent Ferrari enjoyed a much more competitive 2021 season after finishing a low sixth place the year before, challenging McLaren for third place, which the Woking team claimed in 2020.
A close battle between McLaren and Ferrari ebbed and flowed for most of the season until Scuderia rose clearly in the final third of 2021 to secure third place.
It was an entertaining next chapter in one of F1’s most storied rivalries, spanning several decades. Famous McLaren-Ferrari fights include duels between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in the 70’s, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1990 and more recently fights between Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen or Lewis Hamilton against Felipe Massa in 2008.
Ricciardo, who had a low-key first adaptation season with McLaren, enjoyed his team’s battle with the Maranello team and thought it was “a cool story” for F1.
“That it’s Ferrari, from the outside it’s a cool story that these two teams have had a couple of bad years and are two of the greatest teams of all time,” said Ricciardo.
“And now they come back and fight it out. If only it were about P1! I think that’s really the story that a lot of fans want.”
Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari SF21 Lando Norris McLaren MCL35M Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF21
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Regardless of the competition, Ricciardo appreciated that his team’s duel with Ferrari gave him clear and concrete goals to pursue throughout 2021 as Mercedes and Red Bull proved unattainable for the two giants.
“It’s always better when you can fight for something,” said the Australian. “If we’re in this lonely fight between the third and Red Bull and [Mercedes] too far ahead, Ferrari too far behind, I think it would be less exciting.
“I like to have a goal and to pursue something, so that was good. And sure we focused some of our stuff on them and obviously tried to beat them but that’s probably more of a team thing.
“I think for me personally as a driver once the helmet is on and the lights go out on Sunday it doesn’t matter what color the car is if you think you can beat them then you’re going to try to beat them .
“It doesn’t really change the storyline behind the wheel, but I think it creates a little bit more when the team has that goal and that fight… I don’t want to say motivation, but yeah, there’s a goal, so you have something to really work for every weekend, and it doesn’t allow any of us to get complacent.”
