Daniel Ricciardo admits McLaren is not competitive on the track as they would have liked, and the team needs to make massive improvements.
McLaren was among the biggest surprises during the Bahrain GP. And it isn’t in positive taste. The Woking-based remain among the slowest cars on the grid.
Daniel Ricciardo, who had one of the worst career races in Bahrain last Sunday, finished P14—talking about McLaren’s performance at Bahrain, the Australian claims that the car needs several improvements.
Currently, McLaren is far away from its usual rivals and also losing on its edge in the midfield. This year they might see stiff competition from Haas.
“Starting from pretty much the back, we knew it wouldn’t be an easy race. We had some challenges,” said Ricciardo. “Look, I’m glad we got the race distance in, especially for me, the first one I’ve done all year.
“[It was good] to learn the car more, [give] feedback to the team, some interesting things to feel, and some places where I felt the car was good.”
“But overall obviously we still have I think a few more weaknesses than strengths, so [we will] try and give that info to the team and assist them as much as possible now.”
“We’d love to be up on the podium here at race one but we’re obviously a long way from that, but the only way to improve it is work together and address as much as we can in the most efficient way possible.”
Also read: Lando Norris is expecting pain from McLaren in the coming races
Daniel Ricciardo is not ready to back down yet
Ricciardo further claims that he is still optimistic about getting more pace out of the car. He believes while the season will progress, the better his team will get.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an overnight fix, for sure it’s going to take a little bit of time I guess, but we’re still so early in the development of these cars and understanding, so maybe in a couple of races time we find a set-up that works well with the car,” he said.
“There’s still optimism that it might be quicker than we think but knowing Formula 1 I think it’ll take some work to find the lap time we need.”
Ricciardo didn’t have a smooth time with McLaren since his debut with them in 2021. Though there have been a few brilliant patches, it’s not enough for a team like McLaren.
Also read: Guy Ritchie predicts McLaren win before Bahrain race start
