Daniel Ricciardo claims he realized McLaren was not for him in the summer breaks of first year with the team

Daniel Ricciardo was cut short of his McLaren contract in 2022.

Daniel Ricciardo (Image credit: The West Australian)

Daniel Ricciardo seamlessly assumed the position at AlphaTauri. He took the reins from Nyck de Vries with just two races remaining before the summer break. The Australian driver swiftly displayed his adeptness in taming the car, a notable contrast to his stint with McLaren, where he faced challenges. Reflecting on his time with McLaren, Ricciardo expresses a strong desire to avoid a recurrence of such difficulties.

Ricciardo acknowledged that during his initial year at McLaren, he grasped, around the summer break, their tendency to overanalyze. He admitted the intentions were well-meant, yet he recognized it wasn’t aligning with his needs. Hindsight revealed they might have gone overboard. However, this approach could suit another driver. Accepting the circumstances, he moved forward.

“I think even through year one at McLaren, at the summer break I learned we were probably going into too much. We needed to change the approach a little bit. “It was all in everyone’s best interests trying to make it work but I felt like I’ve come to the realisation that wasn’t working for me,” Daniel Ricciardo stated, according to Autosport.

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Daniel Ricciardo reveals early reviews of AlphaTauri’s AT04

Q 1692115884 — Daniel Ricciardo’s AT04 at the Hungarian Grand Prix (Image credit: Motorsport.com)

In his comeback race, Ricciardo’s fortunes initially soured as he got caught in a Zhou Guanyu-Alpine sandwich. Yet, shrewd one-stop tactics and adept driving propelled him to a commendable 13th place. Despite slipping to 16th at Spa, the latter half of the year holds promise for Ricciardo to build upon.

Daniel Ricciardo mentioned that he had experienced a heightened familiarity with the car. He stated that even on the first lap, he had perceived feedback that aligned with his expectations. This was a significant observation for him. He also anticipated the possibility of identifying areas requiring improvement that might not completely match his initial impressions.

Daniel Ricciardo says he felt like the AlphaTauri suited his driving style from the beginning as compared to McLaren

"I felt a little bit more of it. On lap one I already felt like I was getting kind of the feedback that maybe I would expect or like, so that was important."… pic.twitter.com/2ypht6Bz4G
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 15, 2023

Therefore, he foresaw potential challenges that could arise during his experience. His initial impression led him to conclude that the car had indeed provided him with a greater sense of the familiar feeling he had hoped to achieve.

“Maybe I’ll find things that I’ve just got to work on that don’t quite correlate to my feeling, so I expect still some maybe challenges along the way. But the first impression was that it did give me a little bit more of a familiar feeling. That was also important because I was hoping to feel something like that,” Daniel Ricciardo continued.