Daniel Ricciardo admits he is still having to “think” about how he drives his McLaren despite a better weekend in Spain.
The Australian finished ahead of teammate Lando Norris in both qualifying and the race for the first time this season, crossing the line sixth in Barcelona.
Behind Ricciardo’s slowish start was the lack of pre-season testing, with each driver limited to just a day-and-a-half each in Bahrain.
As a result, those who changed teams or returned to F1 this year have been having to adapt during race weekends.
“I think early on, I guess my input has been useful and as far as learning the car with what we’ve got, I’m taking things from Lando and he’s obviously driving very well on top of that,” Ricciardo explained via MotorsportWeek.
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“I’ve been trying to understand what works best with this car and how to get the most out of it.
“Barcelona was better but I was still aware of things I wasn’t quite executing well, and I think qualifying was decent, but over a 66-lap race for sure, there’s some corners you mess up here and there,” he acknowledged.
“I think now I’m aware of what I’m doing wrong, but sometimes you still do it wrong! So I’m getting there. How long will it take? It’s a tough question because I don’t think we will ever… [if] I do this sport another five to eight years, maybe I’ll never feel I’ve got it right.
“We’re always kind of improving to some extent. Long story short, I think [in] the second half of this year, the car will feel completely familiar to me.
“I think, for now, I obviously don’t want to make any excuses, so this isn’t lending towards an excuse, but I’ll still have to probably think about what I’m doing as opposed to just doing it on instinct and subconscious.”
McLaren admits the process of discovering how to optimise their car has made Ricciardo essentially a rookie despite his near 10 years on the F1 grid.
And the 31-year-old revealed the main differences compared to the Renault he drove last year.
“It’s been really about me and adjusting the way you attack the corner, where you brake, how you brake, when you come on throttle, all these kind of details,” he said.
“The car is a little tricky to drive and although it’s fast, it is proving a little tricky at the moment. If I’m overstepping it, then those little mistakes become costly and it throws off the balance for the rest of the corner.
“I’m just figuring it out a bit more and that comes with more laps in the car at a circuit I know back to front.”
Certainly, if there’s one race where you don’t want to lack any confidence in your car on it’s the Monaco Grand Prix.
But the 2018 Monte Carlo winner is more cautious about the atmosphere in the Principality rather than the racing.
“The track itself is so intense, that will always be a 10 out of 10. I am so excited to go there, but I am a bit scared to not get too excited,” he told the BBC.
“We will have some fans, which is a start. The build-up, kind of walking through the crowd and fans to get into the pit lane, into your car – it’s already kind of chaotic before you get into the car, so your heart rate is already up and the circuit’s going to do the rest for you. So maybe there will be a little bit more ‘calm before the storm’.
“[But] the whole aura of the boats and everyone and people on the track at the end of the day drinking and partying – not having that to that level will probably feel a little empty.
“But for the in-car stuff, I think we’ll probably be OK.”
