Ricciardo remains calm: 'It's not all negative'

Daniel Ricciardo is under pressure at McLaren this season. The team reportedly hopes to replace him with Oscar Piastri due to the disappointing results of the last year and a half. However, the Australian is staying put for now and is full of confidence for the second half of the season.

In early 2021, Ricciardo made the move to McLaren to help the team up the ladder. However, Lando Norris soon proved to perform better, while Ricciardo often failed to come close to his teammate's results. It earned him a lot of criticism.

McLaren therefore hopes to put another driver next to Norris in 2023. However, Ricciardo previously announced in a statement that he has no intention of ripping up the contract, which runs until the end of next calendar year. For now he is sticking to that decision.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo is trying to cope as best he can with the criticism he receives for his performance. Although the former teammate of Max Verstappen also feels he can do better, he tries to remain calm every race weekend and get the most out of his car.

"It just shows you need to just be on all the time, and you can’t give people a reason to write something or have an opinion," Ricciardo analysed in conversation with Racer.com. "I also put my own spin on it: look, people care. People think I should be doing better, it’s like they all want to see the kid that can win races, so it’s not all negative."