RB Formula 1 boss Laurent Mekies has claimed the team thinks “every minute” about how it can deliver the platform from which Daniel Ricciardo can excel regularly.
Ricciardo has endured a challenging campaign which has comprised mixed outings over the opening nine races to end his hopes of returning to Red Bull come 2025.
The Australian is fighting to ensure that he retains his place with Red Bull’s sister team as he trails 10 points behind team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who has been renewed.
Following heated criticism from ex-F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve, Ricciardo responded in Canada to translate fifth on the grid into a morale-boosting eighth place.
Mekies contends that Ricciardo’s standout showing in Montreal and his earlier run to fourth in the Miami Sprint demonstrate that he retains race-winning capabilities.
The Italian, who took over at RB this term, has stated the reliance is on the team to provide the drivers with the tools to operate on a level that’s “impossible to ignore”.
“We are focused on making sure that Daniel can perform at his best,” Mekies told RACER. “And I think this weekend, as much as Miami and as much as perhaps China, are a good reminder to all of us of how high a performance Daniel can provide if he’s in the right window, if we give him what he needs.
“It’s our responsibility as a team to have that focus, and that’s what we are thinking all day long. So if you ask me now what are we thinking right now?
“We are thinking every day, every hour, every minute, let’s try to make sure we lock in that window for him, and get the results out.
“And it’s a bit like Yuki – if you do that then it means you are impossible to ignore.
“If you don’t do that, it means we haven’t managed – as a group – to do what we were supposed to do.”
Ricciardo recovered from a clutch issue landing him a five-second penalty to race to an eighth-place finish to land his first points in grand prix conditions this season.
The eight-time F1 winner admitted he was relieved to translate fleeting promise earlier in the weekend into a points return and hopes to build on that in coming races.
“A little bit of relief at the end to get back into the points, for a while we dropped out,” Ricciardo recalled.
“It was weird because I got told I had a five-second penalty for a jump start but I know I didn’t jump the lights, so I was a bit confused.
“So I obviously questioned it, but then I remembered I feel like when I was finding the revs for the start, I’m watching the lights but I felt like maybe the car was moving.
“Pierre [Hamelin, Ricciardo’s race engineer] says we had a bit of an issue, so perhaps the clutch or something.
“That was a little bit of a back step, and then when we pitted for an inter we lost a few positions to the cars that stayed out and we weren’t able to get much more out of that new Inter.
“So the race was kind of getting away from us, and then as it dried towards the end we were able to pick our way through a few cars.
“Happy then to finish with four points and get that. It was never going to be perfect, these conditions are so hard to get it right for everyone, so we’ll keep trying to clean it up.
“But all in all, a fairly good weekend from start to finish and I won’t complain, it was definitely a good one.
“I feel as well that these weekends are sometimes the hardest, especially when things aren’t going too well and you’re lacking momentum, and then we had all conditions over the weekend.
“So it was nice to… start to finish, keep it on track, keep it steady, keep it smooth.
“We needed it, of course I needed it. I won’t say anything else to the others, but it’s good, we’ll keep it quiet.”
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