Ricciardo comfort will keep McLaren in constructors' battle

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl is confident the team will now begin to see the true benefit of new signing Daniel Ricciardo following his performance in the Spanish Grand Prix.

At the opening three races of the F1 season, Ricciardo was left in the shadow of team-mate Lando Norris as the 21-year-old finished consistently inside the top five, including a stunning podium in the second race in Imola.

In contrast, Ricciardo struggled to get comfortable in the car following his move from Renault over the winter, with the Australian experiencing particular difficulty with the brakes.

A strong weekend in Spain, however, has led Seidl to believe Ricciardo's struggles are nearing an end.

“One reason why we wanted to get Daniel on board is that he obviously has a lot of experience and he knows what he needs as a driver from the car in order to go fast," explained Seidl.

“Therefore, I am really looking forward now to the race weekends where he feels fully comfortable with the car because then I think we will see the real benefit, not just in terms of speed but also in terms of his experience helping us to keep developing the car further together with Lando.

“For me, as a team boss, what I need are two drivers pushing each other, pushing the other cars on track because if you want to stay in this fight in the constructors’ championship you always need to have two cars fighting and two drivers always in a position to score good points.”

Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz have faced similar problems to Ricciardo following their winter moves, with reduced testing and the large carryover of parts from 2020 seemingly giving their respective team-mates the early upper hand.

Seidl added: "We knew that it was a challenge to join or to change team over the winter with this limited testing time. It is a challenge to get used to the car, to become one with the car.

"I would also say we are not there yet, where we want to be, with where Daniel wants to be.

"But as I have said many times, I am 100 per cent convinced it is now just a matter of doing more races with us and we will see the performances we are all used to from Daniel."

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