‘I struggled’: Daniel Ricciardo still not comfortable in McLaren car

After three races with his new Formula 1 team, Aussie driver Daniel Ricciardo has made a worrying confession about the McLaren car.

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia.

Daniel Ricciardo’s woes at McLaren look destined to continue, with the Australian driver admitting he still doesn’t feel comfortable in the new car.

The 31-year-old’s maiden season has by no means been a disaster, but McLaren would have expected more from their star recruit.

Stream the FORMULA 1 ARAMCO GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2021 Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Ricciardo placed a respectable seventh, sixth and ninth in the opening three races of 2021, while McLaren teammate Lando Norris has registered three consecutive top-five finishes.

The Aussie’s problems were laid bare at last weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix, starting from 16th spot on the grid after failing to qualify for Q2.

And he didn’t show any signs of improvement on the opening day of practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing 15th and 14th in the two sessions.

Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ricciardo conceded he still lacked confidence in the McLaren.

“I think this morning I struggled getting kind of comfortable I guess or confident, so I was a bit off and we were just chasing some rear grip essentially, kind of fighting the car and not really having the confidence to push it,” Ricciardo said.

“I think we addressed it this afternoon, I do think the car was better and we made a step. Clearly, a step is not enough, we’ve got to make another one, so on paper, it doesn’t look great, but it certainly was better this afternoon.

“It was a second to first so it’s so close and it just shows – obviously F1 is very close this year, but it’s a track that everyone knows so well so it’s just small margins.

“But we’ve certainly got to find some more tomorrow because if we’re a second off, we might be back (doing interviews after Q1) so certainly some tenths to find.”

Norris also struggled in P2 on Friday, recording the 12th fastest time of the afternoon session as Mercedes world champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas once again dominated the grid.

“Definitely just some things to improve in the balance side anyway,” Norris told reporters.

“A bit of understanding why we think we were better this morning than this afternoon with the temperature as well.

“So still different things, still the fourth race of the season, the fourth track of the season, so still exploring different characteristics, different tarmacs and stuff like that.

“So still new things, learning, but tomorrow’s the important day, and that’s when we’ve got to put it all together.”

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia.

READ MORE: Ricciardo wanted to fight Hamilton

McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl revealed the British team had introduced a car upgrade ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Although the upgrades didn’t help the team’s practice performance, Ricciardo believed it was too early to make any assumptions.

“Our positions don’t look great on paper, and we do have work to do, but I’m only a second off in 15th, so it’s really close,” he told the official McLaren website.

“Every tenth counts at this point so we certainly have to find a few for tomorrow and put ourselves in a fighting position.

“We’ve changed a few things on the car and it’s still too early to know what’s good and what needs work, but we’ll spend some time tonight looking at it. The important thing was that we got the laps in. I think FP2 was definitely better than FP1, even if the position doesn’t reflect that, so we’ll hopefully make another step in the morning.”

The Spanish Grand Prix will commence on Sunday evening at 11pm AEST.