Ricciardo waiting for McLaren tide to turn despite Hamilton lesson

McLaren

Ricciardo waiting for McLaren tide to turn despite Hamilton lesson

Ricciardo used lessons from his 2016 Monaco defeat in tricky conditions this term

Sam Hall

Wednesday 1 June 2022 13:40

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed lessons learned during his 2016 Monaco Grand Prix defeat to Lewis Hamilton eased his pain despite enduring another tough weekend at the principality.

Ricciardo has suffered a wretched start to the year, with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown conceding the Australian has failed to meet expectations.

Although finishing 13th in Sunday's rain-affected race, Ricciardo revealed the result could have been worse had he not applied learnings from his drive to second with Red Bull in 2016.

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“We were at a point of no return, we had gone too far so [the feeling was] we might as well just ride it out," explained Ricciardo.

“If I stopped for inters and did two or three laps, I lose four positions or whatever, so we were at that point where we just had to stick it through and try to go straight to the slicks."

Asked if the strategic calls had been made by himself or the pit wall, Ricciardo added: “It's both.

"I made my intentions clear before the race that if these were the conditions, this is what I want to do.

“There was certainly some drive from me to execute that simply because Lewis did it to me in 2016, so it was something I had learnt from in the past with this style of race and it worked for him. I had always had this in my mind.

“Behind the wheel in these conditions, we probably make the last decision but, of course, I am speaking to the team trying to get info from them.

“Obviously, I would like a good result soon but certainly this weekend we were far from that.”

Additional reporting by Ian Parkes