Australia’s F1 knight in shining armour is still DANIEL RICCIARDO, with the Perth-born racer going into his second campaign with historic powerhouse McLaren. But, he’s now a wise elder statesman in the sport, with almost a dozen seasons behind him, and the pressure is on to deliver…
Daniel, you’re entering your 12th season in Formula 1, do you think your experience in the sport will give you a competitive advantage over your rivals as the field gets used to these new cars?
[It’s the] 12th season I’m about to enter, which blows my mind a little bit because I’m sure like all of us our first Grand Prix we remember very vividly still. So to think that was now coming up to 12 seasons ago is kind of nuts. But, of course, with experiences comes some advantages and with the sport changing regulations quite dramatically into the new season perhaps there’s little things I’ve learnt over the years that could help me. Just be one step ahead in some situations, but we’ll see. Time will tell. There’s no guarantee that will happen, but I think experience is always a nice thing and it can’t be bought so hopefully “the 12” serves me well.
It’s your second year with McLaren. You’re a bit more settled into the team. Do you feel you’ll be able to make another step in performance this year, following your win in Monza in 2021?
So year two in a team is always a little easier, smoother… however you want to word it. You’ve kind of gone through the break-in phase, and it’s like a new relationship for sure. It takes time to get to know somebody or a group of people in this case. But, we’ve put the hours in year one and I think year two can just work a lot more fluidly. And for example, with my engineer, Tom, after 12 months together he knows what I like in a car, what I don’t like. So I think there’s probably just an easier way to get to where we need to be. I think we can be a lot more efficient. And probably more like a time efficiency. Spending probably a little less hours over race weekends going through the data, or ifs and whats and everything else, and just getting straight to the point. And I think we know each other – so that’s good. With the car, with me, the feeling will definitely help, and I think touching on the highs of last year with Monza. I’ll always carry that forwards so there’s a lot of just, I think, confidence that comes from that and confidence that I have in the team. So we’ll be OK. I’m very excited.
Finally, a new year of regulations opens up opportunities, what is your key focus for the 2022 season?
I think 2022 is exciting. It’s exciting for us drivers, exciting for the teams, exciting for the fans. I think there’s going to be a lot of scope to bunch the field up, for us at McLaren to get another step towards more consistent podiums or wins, or ultimately to fight for a title one day. With everything going on with the regulations, it does give us a good chance as it does many other teams so I’m looking forward to a tighter field, more wheel-to-wheel racing, more rivalries, all of it. Can’t wait.
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