Daniel Ricciardo reckons a better result in F1 Hungarian GP will boost his confidence as Andreas Seidl talks about upgrades for McLaren.
It hasn’t been a great season for Ricciardo after moving from Renault to McLaren. Perhaps we ought to rephrase that. It has been mediocre to be honest and somewhat uninspiring. In 10 races he has scored points on eight races, which is good but compared to teammate Lando Norris, it is not.
Norris has been on the podium three times and has finished in the points in every race so far with eighth his worst result. At the same time, Ricciardo’s best result is fifth. However, after an uninspiring 13th at the Styrian GP, owing to a poor qualifying and power unit issue during the race, he took seventh at the same venue a week later and followed that up with fifth at Silverstone, just behind teammate.
Two drives don’t really make a drivers season, but after Styria, Ricciardo was a very despondent Aussie. Two strong races since and he would appear to have his mojo back. Also, we must not forget he took his second win at the Hungaroring back in 2014.
“I need to have that consistency now and have few more of such results in a row, to have a bit more faith in saying that,” said Ricciardo to TV media. “I do feel better but there’s still some time on the table that I need to get fine and get comfortable with the car, but overall Silverstone was a good weekend. I think if I have a strong weekend in Hungary, that will give me confidence, that this is now the upward trajectory.”
Confidence is the key. It certainly appeared that as Norris’ stock was rising, Ricciardo career was stagnating, going backwards possibly. Now, both are in a fight, not just for themselves but for their team in the constructors’ standings, 15 points ahead of Ferrari, who did everything except win at Silverstone.
Seidl needs both drivers at the sharp end. He is very focused on the job of keeping Ferrari behind them, so much so, it’s upgrade time but their last of 2021 possibly. “We are bringing some upgrades to Hungary for our car in order to make sure we keep this battle up,” he said to media FormulaRapida.net.
“It is great for us that we are in P3 in the constructors’ championship, and after 10 races, 163 points is again a big step forward for us compared to last year. So I am very happy for that.” Ferrari’s result at Silverstone is part the reason for the upgrades – the last big one for the team for the 2021 season.
They have had a season not dissimilar to McLaren, and apart from France, it’s been a good one for both drivers. “I am also not surprised by the steps they can make in a season, as it is a strong team with two strong drivers,” said Seidl. “They also have all of the resources that they need in order to react to problems. They have the team with the experience to react to the problems so it is not a surprise. It will be a very tough battle until the end of the season.”
The story was written by Neil Farrell
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Here’s Daniel Ricciardo on his defence
