McLaren: 'Ricciardo made it clear MCL35M had to change'

At the beginning of the season, it was not a happy marriage between McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian is however starting to get better and better, which according to McLaren is due to changes to the car.

Daniel Ricciardo is considered one of the most talented drivers in Formula 1, but there was little sign of that at the start of the season. The former Red Bull Racing driver saw teammate Lando Norris consistently beat him.

According to Andrea Stella, McLaren's race director, it was certainly a learning process for the driver and the team. "For Lando, the McLaren is the only car he has ever driven, so he has very little to compare it with. The arrival of a new, talented, established driver, helped us understand that we needed to improve certain things," the top executive explained to Motorlat.com.

Still work to do for Ricciardo

One of the aspects of the McLaren MCL35M that has been tweaked based on Ricciardo's feedback is the steering. "It's well known that our car is hugely sensitive to small steering movements. That can be positive in fast corners, but it also usually makes the car more difficult to drive. Ricciardo's feedback made us realize that we had to change that. So not only is Daniel coming closer to the car, the car is coming closer to him," explained Stella.

Yet the race director also sees that Ricciardo still has some work ahead of him. "There are still circuits and situations where things are not going so naturally. We know why the learning process has been slow, but we think there is still more in it. We still have a lot of work to do," the Italian concluded.