Daniel Ricciardo reckons McLaren has similar weaknesses in F1 2022 to that of 2021 but the team is working ways to reduce some drag.
It was a sweaty day for McLaren’s Ricciardo in Miami GP where he couldn’t score points again. Post-race he noted that he just couldn’t attack in the grand prix and was busy defending all the time which made his race difficult all the more.
“I would say it was kind of fun because there were lots of battles,” said Ricciardo. “At least I found myself in some battles but most of the time it was defending and not really attacking. I felt like through some corners I was able to gain but then we were lacking on the straights”.
“Normally by the end of the straight finding myself in defence as opposed to attack so in the end we discovered this track played more to our weaknesses than strengths and like the last few I’ve been to. I saw plenty of battles in front of me, I think that was fun. I know what I struggled with today and what held me back and what I couldn’t get the most out of it there will be plenty of feedback to the team”.
“Didn’t really have the pace but were able to hang in with the battle but not enough to make a massive threat into the points. The track was interesting, still not sure if it’s a great track but there was certainly some battles do hopefully it was fun for the viewers,” summed up Ricciardo.
Elaborating more on how he sees the 2022 season when compared to 2021, Ricciardo feels McLaren has similar weaknesses as seen last year and the straightline speed is on the lower side, but they are trying to reduce drag and get closer.
“It’s tricky to read,” said Ricciardo. “So far some better races than last year but still little bit off as a whole whether it’s than little bit extra from me or extra little bit from the car. That last little bit to challenge the first group or second group”.
“We will keep working at it, like probably in a similar position to last year, some similar weaknesses but one thing is our straight line speed seems to be a little weaker than last year, so hopefully we can find a way to reduce some drag and get closer to the cars around us,” summed up Ricciardo.
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