Nothing is going well for Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo is facing a lot of difficulties adapting to his new car since his arrival at McLaren this year. The Australian driver once again struggled this weekend in Monaco, unable to extract the full potential from his car. During Saturday’s qualifying session, Ricciardo fell short of his best performance and failed to make it to Q2, finishing in twelfth position, while his teammate Lando Norris secured the fifth position on the grid.

The Monaco Grand Prix qualifications are without a doubt the most decisive in determining the outcome of the race the next day, as the circuit doesn’t really allow for many overtaking opportunities during the race. Daniel Ricciardo was therefore unable to improve his starting position, remaining stuck in traffic in twelfth place. The Australian did not score any points at the end of this Grand Prix in the Principality, unlike his British teammate, who managed to secure third place on the podium.

« I knew the race would be tricky after a difficult qualifying session »

Honey Badger spoke out after the race about his perilous but positive weekend for the team: “It was a bit of a weekend to forget for me, unfortunately. I knew the race would always be tricky after a difficult qualifying session and that’s how it turned out,” declared Ricciardo. “I struggled a bit at the start with the Mediums and that pretty much decided our race. The second stint with the Hards was promising and lap times really started to improve, but by then, I couldn’t do much more given how tough it is to overtake here.”

He knows that the comparison with his teammate is not flattering for him, but he doesn’t forget to play as a team player in these difficult times: On the positive side, it was an excellent result for Lando and the team, so congratulations to everyone. It shows that the pace is there in the car and that we just need to work to unlock it, but it will come with time and mileage.

It is becoming urgent for Ricciardo to pull himself together, currently in eighth place in the driver’s championship with a 32-point gap behind Lando Norris, who is holding the third position in this ranking. To do so, he will need to deliver a great performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, taking place from June 4 to 6: « I’ll just have to understand what happened and take a few days off to disconnect a bit before heading back to Baku. »