‘Give me a winning car, and I’ll win’

Daniel Ricciardo remains adamant that with a winning car underneath him, he still is capable of being victorious in Formula 1.

The Aussie does have eight wins to his name across his career, seven of those arriving at Red Bull, while the most recent win came with McLaren at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

Nonetheless, Ricciardo has been struggling to match the performance level of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris on a consistent basis.

But, he has not lost any of that confidence in himself. If the car is capable of winning, then he feels that he certainly still is.

“Give me a winning car, and I’ll win,” he told Sky Sports F1. “I don’t feel I’ve ever left a win on the table. But that’s the challenge that lies ahead of us, with myself and with the team at McLaren.

“It’s like, ‘let’s figure this out, I’m wanting to take on this challenge with you. Let’s figure it out. Because you’ve given me this and I will give you this’.

“Yeah, that’s the confidence I have in myself and that’s ultimately why I still wake up wanting to do it.”

Recent months have seen a swirl of speculation over Ricciardo’s future with the team, stemming from comments made by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, who said that the partnership with Ricciardo was not yet delivering as expected, while also confirming clauses that could allow for an early split.

Ricciardo is contracted to McLaren until the end of the 2023 campaign.

Recently though the Aussie took to Instagram to address the talk, making it clear that he would not be quitting McLaren early.

Explaining the thought behind that social media statement, Ricciardo said: “I know what I’ve got, I know my future. I know my contract.

“People obviously created questions and their own answers. So it was just setting it straight.

“Also people that support me it’s like letting them know that still means a lot to me. Those bad days are sometimes the best days because it ignites that fire. And it’s like, okay, I get that feeling in my gut and I’m like, ‘okay, this still means a lot’.”

So, the motivation is there, but what are the physical struggles with McLaren machinery that Ricciardo can not quite seem to overcome?

He would liken driving the car to dancing out of sync with a partner.

“The car is really connected to you, you’re strapped in, it’s part of you,” he explained. “And you need it to be part of you.

“Every kind of movement you do, the car needs to move with you. And at…