Ricciardo: I didn’t know my strengths before 2021 F1 struggles

Ricciardo experienced a rollercoaster first season with McLaren in 2021 that saw him initially struggle to match teammate Lando Norris for pace, enduring a difficult run to the summer break.

But Ricciardo took a memorable victory at Monza as he scored McLaren’s first win since 2012, leading Norris home for a 1-2 finish.

The Australian’s driving style did not appear to suit the McLaren MCL35M at points, making the rule changes and new generation of cars from 2022 a chance to reset.

Ricciardo felt there were plenty of lessons he could take from his difficult moments last year, revealing that they helped teach him what his particular strengths were as an F1 driver.

“There’s a lot I can use from that moving forward, simply because yeah, it kind of occurred to me that I didn’t really know my strengths,” Ricciardo said at the launch of the McLaren MCL36 on Friday.

“I knew that I could be very fast - but I thought maybe because I have got bigger balls in the high-speed corners and I just care less! I don’t know.

“But going through it, I realised OK, this is what made me fast in years past. This is what actually gives me confidence in the car, and this is actually where I’m better than others, in this part, and that was at times when I couldn’t do it in the car, so that’s kind of how I discovered that.”

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Ricciardo explained how he went through the process of figuring out why he was struggling to adjust to last year’s McLaren, and that helped highlight more of his own racing characteristics.

“I was trying to get the car to do that, like, this is what got me to the dance so to speak, let me do this and I’ll do well,” he said.

“But then there’s the reality of