Daniel Ricciardo is still learning the ropes at McLaren this season, and his engineer is helping him be as quick as his teammate, Lando Norris.
His engineer very calmly explained to the Australian where to improve so that he can match Norris’ pace around the circuit.
The 31-year-old was sixth on the timesheet in the first practice session on Friday, while Norris was in 9th. In the second session, Norris was in 10th while Ricciardo fell down to 14th.
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Daniel Ricciardo race engineer explains where to match Norris
The engineer said, “Daniel, I think it’s worth having another go. You are quick to the exit of turn nine, that bit’s very good, we lose three or four-tenths in turn eleven.
“It looks like you lifted a little early, which I don’t if that was related to traffic and the apex speed was a bit slow.
‘‘Lando is one gear up in that corner, Lando picking up the throttle earlier, but more progressively. To have a higher apex speed,” he added Ricciardo acknowledged the message and carried on with his practice session.
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The Australian hoping to improve in his McLaren stint
Things haven’t taken off for Ricciardo at McLaren so far this season, as he has failed to make it into the top five of the six races till now.
However, Ricciardo is optimistic and believes with the triple-header coming up, he will have enough time to sync with the car and get the much-needed results for the team and himself this season.
The Australian did show some good pace in the first session at Paul Ricard as he came 6th on the timesheet. But in the second session, Ricciardo couldn’t find his groove and fell down to 14th on the timesheet.
The driver hailing from Perth hopes to improve on his pace for the final practice session and have a stellar qualifying session on Saturday.
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Ricciardo is confident in himself and knows he can extract the most out of the car and bring home points that are much needed by the Woking-based outfit for the championship.
Can Daniel match Lando’s pace and out-qualify him in Saturday’s session? Well, we just have to wait and find out.
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