This is how Ricciardo tried to address his problems at McLaren

After giving up the seat next to Max Verstappen in exchange for new challenges at Renault and then McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo will return to Red Bull Racing next year in the role of third driver. In the Beyond the Grid-podcast, he explains the factors that contributed to his early departure from McLaren.

Ricciardo switched from Renault to McLaren in 2021 in the hope of bringing the Woking-based team back to the top. Although he achieved that goal by winning the Italian Grand Prix in his first season for the team, that highlight proved to be a one-off. The new Formula 1 regulations did not seem to do him any good either.

The 33-year-old Australian was constantly outclassed by his younger teammate Lando Norris and could never really find his feet in the McLaren car. Ricciardo partly attributes that to a lack of feeling and feedback behind the wheel and says he tried to address the problems by focusing on entering the corner.

Ricciardo on problems with McLaren car

"It all starts there. If you struggle with a corner on the exit, normally it’s a product of what’s happened through the corner that’s put you in a position of, let’s say, difficulty on the exit. Most difficulties start on the entry – maybe not all, but most."

Ricciardo adds that things looked a lot rosier in his first race for McLaren, as he outqualified Norris. He wonders aloud where things have gone wrong since then. "Did I then start to try too hard, did we try to engineer it too hard, and get away from my strengths and then try to drive the car a certain way, [which was] maybe a weakness for me?" he continues.

The Perth-based driver thinks the answer lies in the middle. He thinks the updates on the one hand complemented his driving style less well, but at the same time realises that he himself is "not perfect" and that the car exposed his weaknesses. Either way, he often failed to really become one with the McLaren car.