‘Out of your comfort zone’: Ricciardo missing a gear in battle with his McLaren

Australia’s last Formula One world champion, Alan Jones, has a simple message for struggling F1 ace Daniel Ricciardo: Get your mind on the job and stop worrying about outside distractions or you risk being humbled by your young teammate Lando Norris.

It is a typically blunt analysis from Jones who, like everyone else, was shocked to see the Australian driver lapped by Norris at Monaco, the 21-year-old Briton nonchalantly waving goodbye as he sped past in the sport’s most glamorous race earlier this year.

It was the sort of indignity the popular Ricciardo is not used to experiencing. But it is happening all too often since he switched from Renault last year to McLaren this season.

Pensive: Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo.Credit: Getty Images

“I think psychologically he has to strengthen up a bit, dig deep and get on with the business of matching his teammate,” says Jones, world champion for Williams in 1980.

“There is only one sort of comparison and unfortunately for Daniel he has a teammate who is finishing on the podium and in the points.

“It probably is a bit early to make a definitive call on his season, especially if he is having a problem getting to grips with the car. But he has to try to work smarter and harder to get up to speed with Lando.

“He [Norris] is a bloody good driver, and he is getting better with every outing,” says Jones, pointing out the one iron rule in any form of motor sport. “Your teammate is the first person you have to beat in every race and at every weekend.”

Great Britain’s Lando Norris.Credit: AP

This weekend’s French Grand Prix (on Sunday night) is the first of three successive races which could prove crucial for Ricciardo’s 2021 season.

After the F1 circus decamps from the Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseilles it will pitch camp at the Red Bull Ring in Austria where two races in a row will be staged, on June 27 and July 4.

If Ricciardo shows pace and is competitive at the sharp end of the field the critics will be stilled, but if he doesn’t comparisons with Norris will become even more unflattering.

“I’ve had to adapt a few things with my driving style to help the car. I’m still trying to get on top of that .... you’re definitely out of your comfort zone going to a new team ... whether it’s six months’ time, 12 months’ time, I should be a more complete driver.”

Daniel Ricciardo

Norris, who is in his third season with McLaren and far more versed in the way the team operates and the way the car handles, has finished ahead of the experienced Ricciardo in qualifying in five of the season’s six races so far.

He has also been ahead of him in every race bar the Spanish Grand Prix (the only one where Ricciardo out-qualified him).

Ricciardo made the move to one of the sport’s most storied teams after two disappointing years with Renault and had hoped it would help his pursuit of a maiden F1 world title this season.

It hasn’t worked that way so far but the army of analysts who follow the sport expect him to turn things around.

The question is when?

“I have spoken to him a few times. I am pretty positive that he is going to finish the year in much better shape than he has started it,” says the UK-based Mark Webber, Australia’s last grand prix hero.

“Lando Norris has performed extremely well but Daniel is still not quite at one with the car.

“People might think ‘how hard can it be’ but it’s like changing a set of golf clubs or getting a new tennis racquet. It’s a highly technical sport and it takes time to adjust to the new equipment.”

Webber says that there is nothing wrong with Ricciardo’s speed and bravery but his inability to get the car in the best possible set-up to allow him to brake late - one of his strengths - is making life harder.

“He’s not quite [there]. In the braking phase he doesn’t quite have that feeling that he wants, and we know that is normally his signature punch.

A dejected Daniel Ricciardo crashed in qualifying in Azerbaijan.Credit: Getty Images

“He is a phenomenal late braker, but when you are on street circuits [like Monaco] and you have walls around you, you can’t experiment in case you are going to make even more errors. I am highly confident he will get out of it.

“He is highly professional and he knows the standards he wants to be setting. That’s why McLaren wanted him. Two races in the Red Bull Ring will be good.”

Former world champion Damon Hill believes Ricciardo needs more time to get used to the way the car operates.

“These cars are very very tricky and I think changing from one environment to another is difficult,” says Hill, the title winner - also for Williams - in 1996.

“The driving style is a real issue these days. When I was driving we could get the cars to suit us and our style of driving. In these things it’s trying to get the driver to suit the car, and if it’s not your style it can be quite difficult.

“I think it’s a question of him working it out and whether he can get the engineers producing the car he wants. There is no doubting his talent his speed, his competitiveness and his experience. He has got all that going for him. If the team get behind him they will get their value from him.

“He will bounce back. Maybe he did underestimate Lando a little bit ... he is extremely talented, no doubt.”

The season stats make for grim reading: Ricciardo’s best race finish this season is sixth and he has scored 26 points while Norris has stood on the podium twice and has 66 points.

But Ricciardo, while understanding the brutal realities of F1, remains optimistic.

“I’ve had to adapt a few things with my driving style to help the car. I’m still trying to get on top of that,” he told Formula1.com.

“You’re definitely out of your comfort zone going to a new team ... whether it’s six months’ time, 12 months’ time, I should be a more complete driver.”

After a mixed practice session in France on Friday, in which he was faster than Norris in the first session but slower than his teammate in the second, Ricciardo was staying positive. “The morning was pretty promising. We had a good start to first practice, but then in second practice, competitively, we didn’t seem as good. I’m not really sure why right now, but we’ll look into it,” he said.

“It didn’t feel too bad and it’s all very close. We’re probably only missing a few tenths right now. That said, I’m not too concerned, we’ll work at it tonight. Generally, the feeling isn’t too bad, so we’ll just chip away and find a bit more pace for tomorrow.”

His army of fans, especially in Australia, will be hoping it happens soon.

As Webber says: “He is brilliant for the sport. F1 loves Daniel Ricciardo. He’s big round the world and we want him to be near the front.”

THIS SEASON’S FINISHING POSITIONS

Bahrain: Norris 4, Ricciardo 7
Emilia Romagna: Norris 3, Ricciardo 6
Portugal: Norris 5, Ricciardo 9
Spain: Norris 8, Ricciardo 6
Monaco: Norris 3, Ricciardo 12
Azerbaijan: Norris 5, Ricciardo 9

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