Daniel Ricciardo: Been doing it long enough now to know when you have it under you and when you don't

Daniel Ricciardo feels he is experienced enough to understand if the car's performance is in his favor or not. Speaking ahead of the 2022 F1 Mexican GP, the Australian believes that his Austin race was hampered by the limitations of the car and was prepared for a tough weekend.

Commenting on his dismal performance in last weekend's US GP, the McLaren driver said:

"After the race, you go through the debrief and that, but also in the days following, also a little bit today as well, just going back through the race limitations and then areas where obviously with hindsight things we could have done differently or if we had another crack at it, what we would try again. So yeah, it's obviously been like, you know, more races than not have certainly been a struggle."

"But I feel like we certainly took something from it since the race, and hopefully it puts us in better shape this weekend. So yeah, see what happens. But I mean, I knew quite early on in the race that it was going to be tough like it was. Yeah, I've been doing it long enough now to know that when you have it under you when you don't. And so that was I think the tough thing – just trying to try and find a way through the race to make it a more competitive situation for us. But yeah, quite early on, it proved to be a struggle."

According to the McLaren driver, he was prepared for a tough race in Austin after he was knocked out of Q1 ahead of the US GP. From there on, Daniel Ricciardo had to fight his way up the grid from 16th place. In a race filled with incidents, the Australian only managed to finish the race where he started. He claimed that he knew his limitations during the race and, with his experience, he was aware that the grid position and car performance did not favor him.

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Daniel Ricciardo believes 2018 pole in Mexico is encouraging for the weekend ahead

Daniel Ricciardo believes his pole position from the 2018 F1 Mexican GP with Red Bull Racing is an encouraging and motivating factor ahead of the race weekend. He, however, felt a fresh reset would be more helpful to recharge for another race weekend.

Asked if the 2018 F1 Mexican GP performance was a motivator to perform at the current race weekend, Daniel Ricciardo replied:

"It always helps, I think. Not much has, let's say, correlated this year in terms of… As I said, it's been a tough season for sure. I don't come into a circuit relying on like previous success, but of course it helps. And I think honestly, what helps is just coming into a race weekend fresh again and with another chance, another opportunity. So that's exciting. I mean, three days ago, after the race, I was pretty down. But three days after, four days after, Thursday it is, I'm pretty motivated and stoked to get back out there."

Given his difficult year with McLaren, the outgoing driver believes he is excited to go into the next race weekend recharged. Daniel Ricciardo will be racing his final three races with the team and has admitted previously that he will not be on the grid for the 2023 season.