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Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he needs to improve his driving on 'bad' and 'difficult' days if he ever hopes to mount a challenge for the F1 drivers' world championship.
The 32-year-old spoke to GPFans during a post-season interview where he discussed his chances of becoming a world champion in the future. Ricciardo said:
“Unless the car changes from a characteristic point of view, I am going to have to still improve some of my weaknesses. That’s reality. If I want to be in a title fight, I’ve got to still drive this car better on the, call it the bad days or the days that are a bit more difficult.”
Despite returning to the top-step of the podium in 2021, Riccardo had an abject maiden season with McLaren. The Australian ended the recently finished campaign in P8 in the drivers' standings with 115 points. He went on to add:
“It’s just all about awareness as well. Sometimes, just doing laps and laps and laps, I fall into, let’s say, my old technique or old style. It takes a bit more energy to drive in a way that is not natural. I need to just be mindful of when I’m falling back into the stuff that isn’t working at the time.”
Ricciardo reportedly struggled to adapt to McLaren's MCL35M and this was a key factor in him being outshone by younger teammate Lando Norris.
The Australian will hope to avoid a similar outcome in 2022. Should he be unable to do so, we could see a pattern emerge akin to the end of his Red Bull tenure when Max Verstappen's brilliance eventually drove him to Renault.
Daniel Ricciardo's Monza win voted best F1 race of 2021
Daniel Ricciardo's first win for McLaren at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix in Monza has been voted the best race of the season by fans.
F1 confirmed the same with a social media post commemorating the race where McLaren claimed their first F1 win in nine years. It was also the only race to have a one-two finish in 2021 with Ricciardo's teammate Lando Norris finishing in P2.
The win was special for Ricciardo, who felt it 'paid back' all the hard work put in by the entire McLaren team.
