Ricciardo: With change comes optimism

LONDON, United Kingdom, Feb 17 – McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo is feeling buoyant ahead of the start of the 2022 Formula 1 season.

The new year of racing brings with it a host of new regulations, resulting in a brand new MCL36 for Ricciardo to throw around the track.

“There’s a lot of unknowns now, that’s a fact, but I think with change definitely comes some optimism where maybe this will actually get me to lean on my strengths more or whatever,” said the Australian, as per crash.net.

“I’ve done a few laps in the sim – I’ve done a few sessions so more than a few – and I think so far it’s been going pretty good, so I’m pretty happy with where I am at with the car at the moment. But how that correlates to on track we have to see.

“But I am excited for new cars, and it’s going to be different to me as well. A lot of the comparisons are to an F2 car but I never raced F2, so there’s going to be a few unknowns for me as well but I am prepared and excited for those.

“So hopefully you can see me driving as free as a bird in 2022.”

Reflecting on his 2021 season, Ricciardo would be the first to admit he did not perform to his high standards. While Ricciardo handed McLaren their first win since 2012 with a fine drive at Monza, he was consistently outperformed by his teammate Lando Norris, who finished 40 points ahead of him in the drivers’ standings.

Ricciardo fessed up to his shortcomings in 2021…

“I knew that I could be very fast – but I thought maybe because I have got bigger balls in the high-speed corners and I just care less!” he said.

“But going through it, I realised OK, this is what made me fast in years past. This is what actually gives me confidence in the car, and this is actually where I’m better than others, in this part, and that was at times when I couldn’t do it in the car, so that’s kind of how I discovered that.

“I was trying to get the car to do that, like, this is what got me to the dance so to speak, let me do this and I’ll do well.

“But then there’s the reality of things not being an overnight fix, and I need to work on myself and adapt my style to get it going.

“I definitely learned my strengths. I think my weaknesses I guess became more apparent, but it was really the weird one figuring out why I was quick, or why I’d been quick.”