No ‘surprise’ to Ricciardo if McLaren wins in 2022 as he sets home race goal

Daniel Ricciardo claims he wouldn’t be surprised if McLaren did win a race during the 2022 Formula 1 season.

The Australian ended the Woking-based team’s nine-year wait for a victory last year as he and teammate Lando Norris finished one-two at the Italian Grand Prix.

However, after three years of strong progress toward the front of the grid, that momentum has been stopped as early problems blight McLaren’s 2022 car.

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As a result, looking ahead to his first home race in three years this weekend, Ricciardo is setting a realistic goal for what he can achieve.

“It’s going to be flowing and quite fast again, especially with the changes they made,” he said of the revised Albert Park layout to be used for the first time.

“Perhaps that comes to us again and maybe we can fight for points. I know that’s not aiming very high but that’s really all we can aim for, for now.

“Until we get some big updates I think anything inside the top 10 we’ll take a little victory.”

Ricciardo also concedes that he and McLaren will need to be patient as the search to find solutions continues.

“Yeah, I think so, and I think you have to be mentally,” he explained.

“If in two races’ time we are fighting for top five then okay, we’ll take it and that’s a bonus.

“But I think mentally to remain, let’s say, calm and chilled and level-headed and sensible, you need to realise we are not looking for three or four-tenths. It’s over a second if we want to fight for wins.

“So I doubt it will come overnight. We have to just be patient, and I think for the wellness of the team, it’s important to do that. It’s too early to cause a ruckus.”

Despite the considerable gap McLaren has to close, Ricciardo isn’t ruling anything out in terms of results later in the year.

“If it comes, it will come a bit later than certainly desired,” he admitted.

“Without getting ahead [of myself], if we were to come and win a race at some point this year I wouldn’t actually be surprised because I still believe in the team and the processes we have in place.

“I think we have the people in place to get the job done and I know I have 100% faith and belief in people like Andreas [Seidl, team boss].

“Obviously in Bahrain, it was a bit of a, let’s call it, crisis mode. I think we’ve quickly got ourselves out of that.

“But it’s true we’ve got to turn the ship around and I think he’s at least one of the best guys to do it. So ask me in six months’ time and maybe I won’t be surprised with where we are.”