Ricciardo disappoints as Carlos Sainz’s replacement at Mclaren

Daniel Ricciardo ranks eighth in the rankings and is 20 points from Carlos Sainz, which is seventh already 61 points of your partner, Lando Norris, which is fourth. Despite its low contribution, McLaren He maintains third place in the Constructors’ World Cup, although the team does not hide that they are disappointed by the performance offered by the Australian.

As Andreas Seidl has acknowledged: “I don’t think he imagined it would be so difficult to change teams. Ricciardo is disappointed and so are we; We think it would adapt faster. ” “But I remain convinced that, at some point, everything will fit,” added the McLaren boss.

Daniel Ricciardo, from 32 years, also spoke about it after being ninth in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “When you try to learn or adapt to something in any sport, the best way to do it is by practicing, but the problem with our sport is that we can’t do it every day”, He commented.

“We just can’t take the car and go out for a few laps tomorrow with the car. So i think having three consecutive weekends and training so often will accelerate my progress and adaptation”He continued. “We have the simulator and those things obviously help, but in the simulator, walls or accidents don’t hurt, so it’s never the same as real piloting”, He concluded Ricciardo.

The Australian was sixth in the French Grand Prix, thirteenth in the Styrian and seventh in the Austrian. The triplet was settled for Daniel Ricciardo adding 8, 0 and 6 points respectively. “In the battle we are in, both cars need to score points every weekend”Said Andreas Seidl.

Ricciardo, worse than Carlos Sainz

It should be noted that Daniel Ricciardo signed up McLaren replacing Carlos Sainz once it was confirmed that the Madrilenian would race for Ferrari. After the first nine races, Ricciardo is underperforming, although comparisons to Sainz were always going to be odious as Sainz outperformed. “Carlos has done an excellent job. It has been above our expectations. When you sign a Formula 1 driver, you do not sign him if you do not consider him an excellent driver, but now we can say that made it even better than we expected”, Confessed Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren, in the Spanish farewell.

However, the situation of Daniel Ricciardo contrasts with that of Carlos Sainz. And is that the pilot of Ferrari It took him five races to get on the podium with his new team. He did it as second in the Monaco Grand Prix and after finishing fourth, and visibly angry about it, the qualifying session. This is something that his father wanted to value. “It is a positive attitude. The fact that you want more wants to say is ambitious. Athletes have to be ambitious. Probably after that bittersweet feeling, as he described it, over time, you will realize that get to the fifth race with Ferrari with almost no test and be continuously fighting Leclerc, one of the great talents right now, and finish on a podium … If they had told him that before… ”, indicated Carlos Sainz Cenamor.

Norris portrays Ricciardo at McLaren

But if Daniel Ricciardo’s performance is in question, it’s more because of what Lando Norris is showing than because of Carlos Sainz. The Briton is fourth in the standings, beating Valtteri Bottas in points. His great start in the World Championship has helped him renew two more seasons with McLaren, something that Andreas Seidl has also talked about: “It was already pretty clear to us at the end of last season that we could trust Norris. He is very happy with us too, so it was a simple and logical decision to extend his contract so early ”.

In turn, Lando Norris has alluded to the performance of Daniel Ricciardo, whom he did not hesitate to compare with Sainz: “From what I have seen so far, wants a car that really suits him, maybe a little more. Carlos was good at driving a car that wasn’t always easy to drive, he was very good at it. I guess it’s one of the things that I’ve realized now”.

“Daniel is very fast when he has a car for him and when everything is adapted, but as soon as there are a couple of problems, as happens to most pilots, tends to lose some confidence. Then you suffer a little more. I don’t think it just happens to him. It is something that happens more to some pilots than to others. It’s a matter of trust, “he added.