Ricciardo once again disillusioned with his lack of performance

Daniel Ricciardo still doesn't know why he was so slow at Silverstone, and is struggling to find explanations. Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, he hopes the problems will be resolved.

Published on 07/07/2022 à 16:56

Dorian Grangier

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Ricciardo once again disillusioned with his lack of performance

Daniel Ricciardo can't explain his lack of pace at Silverstone © Florent Gooden / DPPI

The small clearing has disappeared for Daniel Ricciardo. After two races where he was competitive, in Canada and in Baku, the Australian was completely out of the picture at Silverstone. Very far from his teammate Lando Norris, he was never in the rhythm all weekend. The problem goes even deeper than that, since the driver McLaren can't explain his difficulties in Britain.

At a press conference, ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo spoke at length about his performance at Silverstone. “These last few weekends had gone better. In any case, everything seemed to be going in a better direction, also with more consistency. And then you get to Silverstone and you're like "what's going on?" ". There are still a lot of things that are confusing. And it's not just 2-3 tenths that we missed, where you can blame a tuning problem. When you see the discrepancies that there can sometimes be… You know, I've been able to drive different cars long enough to know when I'm making errors in judgment,” admits the eight-time Grand Prix winner.

“I have hope that I can do it” replies Ricciardo

The McLaren driver recalled that he was not the only one concerned by these problems and that the Formula 1 was a team effort. “Yes, there are a lot of eyes on us drivers, but no one has ever won a race because of the driver alone. It’s something collective, collaborative. (...) It's important that we stay dedicated and try to sort this out. It could happen any weekend, we would like it to happen as soon as possible. »

If Daniel Ricciardo fell back into his mistakes in Great Britain, the Australian driver remains confident about his abilities. “ For my part, I have hope that I can get there. I'm just waiting and hoping for the best. Of course, I work as hard as I can to get there. » For him, the key in Austria will be not to dwell too much on the Silverstone blunder. “I try not to get too far ahead of what Sunday might look like. I'm going to try to put Silverstone behind me and from tomorrow, concentrate on the weekend, have fun... and do the best I can. »

“I don’t need to do 3 good races to put a car on the podium”

The ex-pilot Red Bull had returned to the game after Monaco, where his boss Zak Brown had made very harsh remarks towards his driver. Daniel Ricciardo was able to score points in Baku, finishing ahead of Lando Norris. But at Silverstone, the return to form took a hit. But nothing to disturb the Australian driver. “Of course the series of good weekends has been interrupted. You know, obviously it's good to have momentum, it can help, but I don't need that. I don't need to do 3 good races in a row to put a car on the podium. If the car is good enough to be on the podium, I think I can do it. » Daniel Ricciardo also confirmed that he had kept the same chassis as in Great Britain for the Austrian Grand Prix. To see if he will have a better destiny at Spielberg than at Silverstone.

ALSO READ > Zhou eager to get back behind the wheel in Austria: “Silverstone is in the past”

Dorian Grangier

A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.

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