After a Q1 knockout and failing to collect any points, Daniel Ricciardo is refusing to let his disappointing Turkish Grand Prix weekend derail McLaren’s recent momentum in Formula One.
Ricciardo arrived in Turkey after a run of top-five results, including the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and a 4th finish in Russia after a late rain shower.
But Ricciardo had a more difficult weekend in Turkey, as McLaren struggled for pace, resulting in him dropping out in Q1.
The team chose to replace Ricciardo’s entire power unit, resigning him to last on the grid, but intermediates were forced to pit early due to a difficulty to make up positions.
Ricciardo started 11th, but dropped to 13th with two laps to go after being passed by both Alfa Romeo drivers as his worn tyres began to slow down.
While Ricciardo was sure that McLaren could learn from its struggles in Turkey, he said he didn’t want to focus on it and let it detract from his recent good improvement.
“I don’t want to dismiss this weekend, but let’s say from a trajectory [point of view] I want to dismiss it,” Ricciardo said after the race.
“I don’t want it to get our spirits down. It’s one of those weekends that wasn’t good.
“I know we’re going to debrief now before we fly out of here so hopefully we put a bit of information on the table and try to learn something.
“But I don’t want this weekend to affect our momentum. [It is] just one of those days. So as long as we can learn, we’ll move on.”
The longer corners and front-limited nature of the Istanbul Park circuit played against the McLaren MCL35M car’s strengths, much as it did at Zandvoort last month.
Ricciardo feels more hopeful about the team’s chances at the Circuit of The Americas in the United States Grand Prix next week in Austin.
“I think there’s certainly some corners we’ll be good at,” Ricciardo said.
“The first sector we should be alright, quite high speed corners, I think we’ll be decent. All the hairpins we should be okay, we’re good on braking normally.
“Some of the last sector might hurt us a bit but look, I think we’ll be back to a competitive position.
“Hopefully it’s 38 degrees, boiling hot, everyone’s sweating and we’re enjoying it.”
The uniforms of Formula One racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price:
