McLaren 'over-digitised' Daniel Ricciardo instead of freeing him up

F1 pundit Peter Windsor has said that McLaren CEO Zak Brown didn't do a good job managing the struggles of Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo drove for the iconic British team in 2021 and 2022 but could not show his true speed and was comprehensively beaten by his teammate Lando Norris. Windsor said that Ricciardo would have been better off had he not compared his telemetry data with Norris.

During his live stream on his YouTube channel. he said:

"I don't think Zak had any experience managing F1 teams; he was a sponsorships guy. So, when Daniel was in trouble alongside Lando, was Zak the right guy to lift Daniel out of that? Maybe not, my 100% belief is that they over-digitised Daniel Ricciardo."

Brown continued:

"They just filled him up with telemetry from Lando and asked him to respond to do at any given time and to try to drive like Lando, which I think was a massive mistake. They should have gone the other way which is to free Daniel up and let him be Daniel Ricciardo."

---

"With McLaren, it was tough for me" - Daniel Ricciardo on his struggles

Daniel Ricciardo said hat it was a tough time for him at McLaren, as the stint dented his confidence. Speaking via Speedcafe, the Australian said:

“I’ll always take some responsibility or accountability. For many years, I truly believed I was the best, and I am the best in the world, so whatever the situation, I’ll be able to overcome it. And, obviously with McLaren, it was tough for me to do that. So yeah, I was aware that I’m not the perfect driver, I do have weaknesses, so I’ll always hold something on to myself.”

He continued:

“Having a bit of a chance to remove myself from it and now looking back on the last two years, I would have done things differently if I had that time again, or maybe ask more questions or been a little bit more demanding.

"But you also live and you learn, so I don’t look back with regret. That was a situation, and I got through it. And now, getting back into Red Bull, I felt as well I was certainly a little bit … My confidence was probably not what it used to be as well.

The Honey Badger will look to a driving seat in 2024 and return to the F1 grid.