McLaren refutes Christian Horner’s claims of Daniel Ricciardo picking up bad habits at Woking
McLaren race engineer Tom Stallard disagrees with Christian Horner's claims that Daniel Ricciardo picked up 'bad habits' at McLaren.
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Christian Horner and Daniel Ricciardo (via IMAGO)
Daniel Ricciardo raced for McLaren for two seasons following his stint with Renault. McLaren aimed to strengthen their driver lineup, believing Ricciardo’s skills and competitive spirit would help them return to the front of the grid. However, he only managed to clinch one victory that season, which highlighted his inconsistency.
When he left McLaren to join AlphaTauri (now VCARB) in 2023, team principal Christian Horner noted that he picked up “bad habits” from the Woking-based squad. When Daniel Ricciardo returned to AlphaTauri in 2023, he began to perform better than he did at McLaren.
However, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner noted that Ricciardo picked up some ‘bad habits’ when he left the team in 2018. These inconsistencies in performance arose from his struggles to adapt to McLaren’s setup and driving style, which hindered his effectiveness.
The disconnect stemmed from a lack of synergy with McLaren’s approach. This led the honey badger to pick up habits that clashed with Red Bull’s competitive standards. However, the Australian’s race engineer at McLaren, Tom Stallard, strongly disagreed with Horner’s comments.
I disagree. I would say actually that Daniel was driving the car very normally and, if anything, our car required some quite specific actions, primarily around the turn-in phase of the corner, which he struggled to adapt to because they require very, very precise timing from the driver.
Tom Stallard said, as reported by F1 Nations Podcast
Stallard explained that Ricciardo was handling the car in a typical way, but McLaren’s setup required specific driving techniques, especially during the turn-in phase. The 35-year-old struggled with these techniques because they demanded precise timing and quick, sharp movements, which are challenging.
Tom Stallard reflects on his time with Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren
When Daniel Ricciardo joined McLaren, the team had high hopes for the Australian, expecting his invaluable experience to drive success. Unfortunately, his performances fell short of those expectations, leading to an early termination of his contract.
Despite the disappointing results, Tom Stallard described their time together as wonderful, praising Ricciardo as a great person to work with. He highlighted the 35-year-old’s positive attitude and expressed regret that they couldn’t achieve their goals before he was replaced by Oscar Piastri.
Working with Daniel was great because he’s just a really lovely guy, He’s a really positive guy to be around. I think it’s, you know, well known that we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve with him at McLaren.
Tom Stallard expressed
Ricciardo’s tenure in Formula 1 has taken a significant turn as he has been replaced by Liam Lawson ahead of the US GP. This change follows a difficult season for him, as he struggled to find form after returning to the grid with VCARB. He only managed to score points in just three of the 18 races this season.
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Gaurang Kadam
(535 Articles Published)