What Happened to Daniel Ricciardo?
With 32 podiums and eight wins under his belt, Daniel Ricciardo was one of the hottest properties in the drivers market just four years ago. However, since his decision to join McLaren, things have been underwhelming for the Aussie. What exactly is happening to Ricciardo?
Since his days at Red Bull, Ricciardo has been recognized for his ability to drive and overtake aggressively. Why has he lost his shine so quickly in McLaren? Ricciardo was known for his late-braking abilities during overtakes, but he likes to brake earlier when he is driving normally so he can maintain a smooth corner entry. This driving style heavily relies on the aerodynamic capabilities of the front end of the car. As Ricciardo likes to press on the brakes earlier, he also does it more gently. This means that there is less load on the front of the car during corner entry, making it more difficult for front tires to find grip and potentially cause understeer. Therefore, Ricciardo relies on the car to provide him with the grip that he needs when he is turning.
Unfortunately for him, McLaren’s car cannot do that. McLaren’s MCL36 has a strong rear end but its front end, not so much. Ricciardo cannot comfortably drive using his style and he doesn’t have the confidence in McLaren’s brakes to use the late-braking style that his teammate Lando Norris uses. Norris has already scored 48 points and one podium, Ricciardo, on the other hand, achieved only 11 points. McLaren doesn’t have the strongest car this season but it certainly looks bad for Ricciardo when his younger teammate is able to achieve way better results.
McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown recently said in an interview that there are “mechanisms” in the contract that could trigger Ricciardo’s departure before it's due after the 2023 season. But he also said that Ricciardo has control over his relationship with McLaren, meaning that Ricciardo can control if he wants to leave early. With that said, there is no doubt that the thought of letting Ricciardo go early has passed Brown’s mind, but McLaren’s team principal Andreas Seidl has confidence in Ricciardo and is committed to solving issues with him. “Daniel is committed, he's very experienced. We are committed to make this work,” said Seidl.
Ricciardo came clean about his struggles with McLaren’s car. “It’s still been a little bit tricky for me to always like gel 100 percent with the car and feel like I can pull out these… I’m trying to say spectacular laps, but that sounds like I'm really bigging myself up - but yeah, just to pull out those heaters, I guess,” said the Australian in an interview.
“The more people ask me [about retirement] I’m like, “f*** that,” I want to stay longer. What’s my shelf life? I still think there’s a good handful of years left in me competitively,” said Ricciardo replying to the rumors about his possible early retirement. “It’s relative as well to competitiveness [and] desire. I think I’ve still got the desire in me for a good handful of years, results aside,” said Ricciardo.
In the end, it doesn’t matter how much desire a driver has to stay in Formula 1. If a driver doesn’t deliver results, they will lose their seat. The only hope for Ricciardo now is to find a balance between his new driving style and McLaren’s car development soon. If there isn’t any improvements before the summer break, there are no guarantees on Ricciardo’s seat next season. There are also plenty of talents waiting on McLaren’s empty spot, including IndyCar talents Pato O’Ward and Colten Herta. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly is also likely to look for a change of scenery after this season so Ricciardo really has to step up his game if he wishes to keep driving for McLaren.
