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Danny Ric has been struggling this year - on pace, consistency and overall results. And its not helped by his teammate Lando outperforming that car this season. At the moment, Lando has 48 points, to Daniels 11 - so Lando has brought in 82% of McLarens points this season.
Then there is qualifying pace - on average, Lando is 6 tenths quicker - in the same car. (0.596)
So I looked into what’s going on, but to understand that - we need to understand Ricciardo’s driving style. Because it will explain why he was so quick at Red Bull, but not at McLaren.
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Quickly though, I need to mention that Danny has had some great results. With several podiums and even a win back in Monza. But what we’re looking at is one of the drivers with the worst records compared to their teammate - who is obviously working with the same tools.
So really, it's the gap to Lando that is interesting here.
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So what is Danny’s driving style like? Well, I have broken down a number of driving styles on this channel - and really, they are subtle points that allow the driver to get the car through the corner quickly.
For example, Hamilton is incredible on the brakes. He is able to get the car stopped well, without losing time on exit. Vettel takes a more vee’d off line to rotate the car mid-corner, similar to Schumacher.
But all of these driving styles tie in closely with the car they are driving. For example, Alonso back in 2005 and 2005 was driving a Renault with a really strong rear end and using tyres that were rock hard. So he induced understeer on the way into the corner, which heated the tyres and gave him the grip to pivot the car mid-corner and fire it out on exit.
But he isn’t using that style at Alpine for example, as it would chew up the tyres and he would be pretty slow.
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But, having said that - Danny was at his peak at Red Bull between 2014 and 2018. So let's look at his style then.
The Red Bull was incredible aerodynamically, with more raw downforce than other teams (on the whole). But the Renault engine wasn’t great, so they were comparatively quick in the corners, but slower on the straights.
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