Daniel Ricciardo says he is still lacking outright confidence in order to fully attack some corners behind the wheel of McLaren’s MCL35M.
Ricciardo has trailed team-mate Lando Norris through much of the opening phase of the 2021 Formula 1 season following his move from Renault.
Ricciardo, who was eliminated from Q1 in Portugal, finished a low-key 15th in second practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, though was only a tenth of a second adrift of Norris, who classified 12th.
The Australian conceded that he is still making progress in getting accustomed to the MCL35M and elaborated on some of his issues after Friday’s second session.
“I think it’s still being confident in what I have, and when I say what I have, I mean the car underneath me, to kind of commit and attack the corners, if you know what I mean,” he said on where his main difficulty lies.
“Essentially all the high-speed stuff you kind of turn in and at the end of the day – obviously there’s a lot of technique – but it’s also about trusting the car and turning in and knowing it’s going to stick.
“I think the sensation is still a little bit different, and that’s probably taking a little bit of that trust away from me at the moment.
“But saying that, certainly some of the reasons this morning, this afternoon, it certainly got better. I think there’s a bit of that, and then ultimately just a bit with set-up.
“I think Lando in the debriefs complains about the same things, or the weaknesses are the same things, but I think he’s just a bit more used to this car doing that, and he’s able to probably drive through it a bit better. But we’re still ultimately trying to get that area improved.”
Ricciardo reiterated that he and McLaren have made gains but accepted the closely-contested nature of the midfield means any further improvements will be keenly felt.
“I do think the car was better [in FP2], and we made a step,” he said. “Clearly a step is not enough and we’ve got to make another one.
“So on paper it doesn’t look great but it certainly was better this afternoon. [We are] 15th, but I think it’s one second to first, it’s so close that it shows that not only is F1 close this year amongst all teams, but it’s a track that everyone knows so well, so it’s just small margins.
“But we’ve certainly got to find some more tomorrow, because if we’re a second off, we might be back here. So certainly some tenths to find.”
