Daniel Ricciardo says he needs to learn to accept a loss to Formula 1 teammate Lando Norris while keeping up to date with McLaren.
In his second race for McLaren after his winter switch from midfield rival Renault, Ricciardo could only finish sixth when Norris claimed the second podium of his F1 career with a great drive to third place.
The 31-year-old admits he’s still learning to trust McLaren’s 2021 MCL35M F1 car and by the time he’s fully confident he knows that Norris will likely have the upper hand.
“The result looks good on paper, but I wasn’t fast,” admitted Ricciardo.
“A bit like most of the weekend. Lando was on the podium and certainly had a faster pace for at least a large part of the race. On the one hand it’s really positive, but on my part I don’t have to find out what’s going wrong, just what I can do better.
“I don’t want to be too hard on myself, but I will definitely accept defeat. And just work and see what I can improve. “
Norris’ tempo advantage over Ricciardo was so great that the Australian was forced to play the team game when asked to let his faster teammate into the clean air on lap 16.
On the subject of matching items
After a red flag in the middle of the race and a restart after the massive crash of Valtteri Bottas and George Russell, Norris was finally able to cross the finish line 27 seconds ahead of Ricciardo.
“I can’t let my ego or pride get in the way of the moment,” said Ricciardo. “I had enough laps and then I started struggling with the right front tire with some grit and I couldn’t increase my pace.
“The team gave me enough chances and I couldn’t make more of them. Lando was the faster car and you’re never happy. But of course I liked to stick to the rules because it made sense.
“I don’t want to bring a negative attitude into the team. It is only [about] what i need to do to improve “
On the subject of matching items
The results will show that Ricciardo has surpassed Norris twice so far after two attempts this year, but that doesn’t reflect the performance both drivers were able to get out of their cars. During qualifying at Imola, Norris’ Q3 performance would have been good enough for P3 on the grid – about four tenths more than Ricciardo’s – had it not been canceled because the track limits were exceeded at Turn 9.
Norris’ brought his pace advantage to the race, with Ricciardo acknowledging that his team-mate was “definitely faster”. Still, Ricciardo wanted to capitalize on the positives of the fact that McLaren was able to get on the podium so early in the season.
“I never really felt like I had that pace, probably all weekend, it was probably a result of the whole weekend and not fast enough,” he explained.
“On the positive side, one of the cars is on the podium and in the second race of the year I find that very encouraging. The potential of the cars there.
“On my part, I just have to find out. I’ll be hard to learn, but I won’t beat myself up. I’m leaving this weekend with a positive outlook. I would much rather see Lando in third than 15th.
“Sixth is probably the best we can do for a while. So there are certainly some encouraging signs and congratulations to them, they have been strong all weekend. I will keep working.
“I have to forget a bit of pride and actually see what I can improve,” he added. “I’m definitely in a productive mindset, not a defeated mindset.
“I definitely see the positive and also for the team. Getting a podium in the second race is a good start. “
Ricciardo compared his early ambition to keep up with his former Renault teammate Esteban Ocon’s initial struggles when he returned from a year on the F1 sideline in 2020, though confident he’ll hit 100 percent sooner rather than later.
“In a couple of months I’ll probably look back at the start of the season and not be so stressed,” he said. “There are so many races, but in the first two races I lost my pace a little.
“Of course I would like to do better right now.
“If you’re used to the car we know he’s a quick driver, but last year, Ocon, we know he’s a quick driver, but it has been difficult for him, my pace in many qualifications over the past year to reach.”
“It shows that the extra year I had in the car at Renault was an asset. We see that now. “
The post Why Ricciardo was happy to accept a loss to McLaren F1 teammate Norris first appeared on monter-une-startup.
