Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren had a rough time in Turkey, but he’s not going to let that affect his performance in Austin.
With Ricciardo guiding McLaren to a one-two finish at the Italian Grand Prix, the team had created a buzz within Formula One.
Lando Norris then won pole and led the race in the next round in Russia, until a late rain shower caught the Briton off guard, as he was adamant about not pitting for intermediate tyres.
McLaren, on the other hand, was back in the midfield battle at Istanbul Park, where they had spent much of the season. Norris finished in seventh place, but Ricciardo had a far harder weekend.
During Q1, the Australian was eliminated, and after dropping to the rear of the grid due to an engine penalty, his recovery was limited to P13.
Sure, it’s a stumbling block, but Ricciardo is determined to keep it that way for himself and McLaren.
“I don’t want to dismiss this weekend, but let’s say from a trajectory [point of view] I want to dismiss it,” he said in the media pen after the Turkish Grand Prix.
“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 next race is the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, and Ricciardo believes McLaren will be competitive there once again.
“I think there’s certainly some corners we’ll be good at,” he predicted.
“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.”
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