Daniel Ricciardo has provided further detail into the analysis he and McLaren undertook in the aftermath of his difficult display in Monaco.
Ricciardo has trailed team-mate Lando Norris for most of the early stages of the 2021 campaign since signing a three-year deal to move across from Renault.
Ricciardo’s problems reached a nadir in Monaco, where he was lapped by Norris in race trim, going on to finish 12th while his team-mate scored a second podium result of the campaign.
“I did spend a few good days on the sim last week,” Ricciardo commented ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“I think [we took] a step back [to] understand what’s going on and, let’s say, how the car works and what needs to be done to get the car working well.
“I don’t want to say we started from zero, as we learned a bit in the first few races, but we had more of an open-minded approach and we just tried lots of different things, even things that don’t feel, let’s say, correct; we’ll try them and understand why that doesn’t work.
“We played around a lot, and certainly some things now do seem more clear to me and it was really productive to do that, and yeah, I’m looking forward to putting it in play on track.”
Ricciardo conceded that a lot of the focus was on “trying to adapt my style to work better with the car, and I think sometimes I’ll do what I think is right and what has worked for the last few years, say, and it doesn’t quite well at the moment.
“And, then, that’s like ‘why doesn’t it?’ and it becomes frustrating and you question: ‘but it should workb – so I think the last week especially I took a step back, didn’t completely restart, but started from a step behind and then built up.
“I think that helped me understand a lot better what the car is doing and what we’re trying to achieve with the car.”
Ricciardo joked that he is willing to forgive those who have already dismissed his chances of re-emerging as a contender.
“For sure I’d have loved to have it [a full understanding] now or a few races ago but that’s maybe where I lean on my experience in the sport and just know… I’ll use this expression… it’s a marathon not a sprint,” he said of his situation.
“Of course you want to be able to deliver every race but I know in whatever race time when it clicks and it becomes right people will all of a sudden be back on the Ricciardo train!
“So, if you jumped off, it’s okay, it’s still going to go forward, and there’s tickets still to be sold so it’s okay, I’ll let you back on!”
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