Ricciardo had a tough time mentally this season: 'I want everyone to see me'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo has had a tough half year at McLaren. The Australian had a hard time getting used to the orange car and it took a long time before he could compete with his teammate Lando Norris. After the summer break however, Ricciardo has come into form and the crowning glory is last Sunday's victory in Monza.
The win came after a period of many tough days, the McLaren driver explained on the site of the British team. "There were definitely moments. Yeah. Because the results weren’t there, and it wasn’t that clear to me as to why. Those days were not fun. I don’t race to just be another driver and to be on TV. I race to win and achieve success, and to be the guy who everyone’s like, 'yeah, this is the guy.'"
Learning to deal with disappointment
Up until Monza, Ricciardo had many such down days, with the low point being Hungary. He seemed to be on his way to a good classification there, as Valtteri Bottas caused a lot of problems at the top of the field. However, he was unfortunate enough to be hit by Charles Leclerc, which ultimately resulted in him being flagged off in 11th place. "This year there have been more of those days where I wasn’t stoked but I have had those days in previous years and, maybe I’m one of the only ones to admit it, but I think it’s just a product of the sport we’re in."
"As a driver, your win ratio is smaller than probably any other sport. In most team sports, you probably win 50% of the time, if not more, but name a driver who has a 50%-win ratio in F1? No one. I don’t think anyone does and if they do, then they’re a unicorn. You enter this sport knowing that you’re gonna have to put up with a lot of lows, but that’s what makes the highs even higher," Ricciardo concluded.