Has Ricciardo got his F1 dancing partner back at McLaren?

After more than a year of struggles at McLaren, where he has more often than not been in the shadow of Lando Norris, there finally appears to be a glimmer of hope that things are getting better.

His improved pace in Baku put him in the window where McLaren had to intervene with team orders as his strategy played out, and there is an impression that Ricciardo has turned the corner in understanding what he needs to get the most from his F1 car.

The challenge of finding the missing few tenths has not been an easy one Ricciardo, as it has been more a case of details than anything obvious standing out as majorly wrong.

But, as he explains, sometimes getting fully at one with a car is something that comes down to a personal feeling rather that anything that can be pointed out on a computer screen.

“As a race car driver, we thrive off the competition and being competitive,” he said, when asked by Motorsport.com to describe what’s been missing. “But I think we also thrive off that feeling of getting hooked up, and that feeling of putting the lap together. It’s kind of a powerful feeling.

“So when you’re not kind of gelling with the car, that’s a big part of that feeling which you’re missing.

“It’s kind of like dancing; you want you and your partner to be in tune. And if it’s not, then it’s a little less enjoyable.”

Ricciardo’s form over the Baku suggested he may have got have got his dancing partner in step, and it appears a post-Monaco GP session in the McLaren simulator at Woking helped unlock some answers.

His Monaco weekend had been one where things had started well, but then drifted away: and in digging deep into the details of what happened there, it has helped produce answers for improvements elsewhere.

“There’s certainly some good signs which have come through from that,” he added. “So I think probably the encouraging part is that we’ve made progress.

“I think obviously there’s understanding something, but then it’s putting it kind of into practice. There’s still more to exploit, but I think that’s been certainly a good sign.”

McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl says that the main thing Ricciardo had been lacking was confidence in finding the final tenths in qualifying – which goes back to that dancing partner vibe.

Seidl said: “Especially when it goes into qualifying and when you have to push this car to the absolute limit, he just doesn’t feel as comfortable as Lando.

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