Daniel Ricciardo still HAUNTED by ‘unnatural’ McLaren experience

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo still HAUNTED by ‘unnatural’ McLaren experience

Tyler Foster

Friday 18 August 2023 23:27

AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo has spoken out on his troubling time at McLaren, stating that his driving 'wasn’t natural anymore'.

Ricciardo is Australia’s fourth most successful Formula 1 driver. He has taken eight grand prix victories in over a decade in the series, including his most recent with previous employers McLaren.

During his two-year spell with the Woking-based team, Ricciardo showed glimpses of his younger self; his crowning achievement being a historic win at Monza in 2021. However, he struggled throughout 2022 in comparison to his younger team-mate Lando Norris. Halfway through the season, he had seemingly lost all confidence and as a result lost his drive in F1 for 2023.

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Quoted by Autosport, the current AlphaTauri driver explained that things were becoming too complicated during his time at McLaren.

"I don't want to get into that detail ever again. I was driving very consciously, and it just wasn’t natural anymore and I was just one step behind. At some point, we would have got a little too deep and a little too lost.

“It was all in everyone’s best interests trying to make it work but I felt like I’d come to the realisation that wasn’t working for me. We still probably did too much in hindsight, but maybe that works for another driver. It is what it is.”

Ricciardo: AlphaTauri a more familiar feeling

F1's resident Aussie seems to be enjoying himself more with AlphaTauri

Since his return to F1, the 34-year-old has felt greater comfort at AlphaTauri than with McLaren. With little time to readjust, the Australian has already matched the performances of previous driver Nyck de Vries.

Speaking about his control of the AT04, Ricciardo expressed that the baseline at his new team is what he was hoping for.

"I felt a little bit more of it. On lap one I already felt like I was getting kind of the feedback that maybe I would expect or like, so that was important.

"But the first impression was that it did give me a little bit more of a familiar feeling. That was also important because I was hoping to feel something like that."