Daniel Ricciardo said he had complete faith in his ability to deliver and was ready to put the ‘train’ back on track after a tricky start to the Formula One season since switching to McLaren.
Speaking to reporters at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix yesterday, the Australian said he knew the situation would come good.
“It’s not something that I have any self-doubt. I know deep inside me what I’m capable of and I know if I was driving with an element of fear or hesitation then I would know that this sport’s not for me any more,” he added.
“But it’s very much not the case. I know it’s just about putting it together now. “I know that once it clicks and it becomes right, people will all of a sudden be back on the Ricciardo train. If you jumped off, it’s OK. It’s still going to go forward. There’s tickets still to be sold, I’ll let you back on.” The Australian has seven grand prix wins to his credit, all with Red Bull between 2014-18, and is in his 11th season in the sport as one of the highest-paid drivers.
Yet the 31-year-old, a winner in Baku in 2017, has scored only 24 points compared to 21-year-old British teammate Lando Norris’s 56. Norris has been on the podium twice in five races and is third overall, while Ricciardo is eighth and has not finished higher than sixth.
“I did spend a good few days on the simulator last week and it was really just trying to take a step back and understand what’s going on and how the car works and what needs to be done to get the car working well,” said Ricciardo. “We just tried lots of different things, even things that don’t feel correct... just played around a lot. Certainly some things now do seem more clear to me and I think it was really productive to do that. “So I am just looking forward to putting that in play now on track.”

Tsunoda says Red Bull asked him to move to Italy
Formula One rookie Yuki Tsunoda has moved from Britain to Italy so he can be closer to his Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri team and improve.
The 21-year-old Japanese told reporters at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Thursday that the switch was suggested by his unhappy employers two weeks ago after he crashed in second practice in Monaco.
“They decided for me to move to Italy, to have more chats with the engineers and to go also to the factory and have more opportunity to talk about the car,” said Tsunoda.
“Actually I was asking Red Bull from the beginning of the season if it was possible to go and move to Italy but they said at first no,” added the rookie, who had been based at Milton Keynes near the main Red Bull factory. “Now I can go to Italy and spend more time with the team so that’s positive for me. And generally I like more Italy. The food is nice and the weather is much nicer.”
Tsunoda said he flew direct from Monaco to the Faenza factory and the first day had been busy, with team boss Franz Tost drawing up a schedule of activities. “From nine o’clock – gym session until 11, which I never had (before).
“Eleven to 12.30 was an engineer meeting and lunch and having also an English lesson because my English is not perfect. Three to 4.30 is again engineer meeting and 4.30 to six is a big gym session.
“I didn’t enjoy last week, but it is what it is... the gym session is timed much longer than usual. Hopefully I won’t be like a body-builder by the end of the year but we’ll see.”
Tsunoda was acclaimed as the best rookie in years when he finished ninth on his debut in Bahrain but his form has slipped since. He has not scored since the race at Sakhir, with a best finish of 12th in the four rounds since the season opener. He has not raced previously in Azerbaijan, with last year’s Formula Two race cancelled due to the pandemic. (Reuters)