F1 2022: Daniel Ricciardo will break Mark Webber’s races record but how long can he survive?
Daniel Ricciardo will create Australian F1 history this weekend, but questions over his future and competitiveness at McLaren will not go away and his record breaking tally may stall sooner rather than later.
Daniel Ricciardo is banking upon upgrades to his McLaren to save his lagging Formula One season as he prepares to create Australian motor sport history at Barcelona this week.
Ricciardo will line up for his 216th race, surpassing the record held by Mark Webber for the most F1 grands prix for an Australian driver.
But Ricciardo will take to the grid with the pressure on his future continuing to mount and the 2022 season beginning to slip away.
Off contract in 2023, Ricciardo has shown no sign yet that he can challenge for a podium and talk about potential replacements has only intensified after US star Colton Herta won the Indianapolis IndyCar race last weeke nd to further solidify his credentials as the McLaren F1 driver in waiting.
Ricciardo will head to the Spanish Grand Prix with some key changes to the MCL36 that will hopefully make him far more competitive.
He finished outside the top 10 at the last grand prix in Miami and has consistently qualified half a second slower than his teammate Lando Norris, raising questions about his long term position at McLaren with Herta booked in for some testing in the coming months.
Ricciardo, 34, is confident changes to his car will allow him to push further up the grid in Spain as the F1 stars get ready for a double header with back-to-back races in Barcelona and Monaco over the next two weekends.
“Looking to Spain, we have to keep a positive mindset and apply everything we learned from last race weekend,” Ricciardo said.
“Spain was a good race for me last year so I’m looking forward to getting back out there in the new regulation cars and really get the most out of the MCL36.
“Having tested here back in February, we have more of an idea on what to expect under the new regulations than we do at other race weekends. It will be good to see where we can make improvements and put the upgrades we’re bringing to the test.
“Our performance since Bahrain has showed we can consistently fight for the top 10, so it will be great to get back on track and keep at it. We’ll keep pushing and keep coming back stronger.”
Ricciardo was actually the third fastest during the second day of testing in Barcelona back in February and has two podium results in 11 races at the track.
McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl believes the return to this track could be the turning point for their season.
“Spain is a great all-rounder track, with a nice mixture of high and low speed corners, plus areas that are more technically difficult. We’ve had some solid results there over the last few years with good points scored, which we’re looking to continue this year,” Seidl said.
“We are bringing some upgrades to the car for the weekend. I know it’s been an extremely busy week or so for many of the teams making changes ahead of Barcelona so it’s going to continue to be a tight fight for points.
“We performed well at this track in pre-season testing so it will be interesting to see how our car will perform with the upgrades we’ve made since then. Hopefully we can have some good battles and get both cars back into the fight for good points.”
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