Following a difficult Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren boss, Zak Brown says that Daniel Ricciardo has not met the team's expectations, though he hopes the Australian can turn things around.

Admitting that he "wasn't there from the start," Daniel Ricciardo is as perplexed as the rest of us following a Spanish Grand Prix in which he finished 12th, whilst his teammate, suffering from tonsillitis, was able to battle his way to 8th.

"It wasn't like I had understeer, I mean I did, but it was just overall a lack of grip," said the Australian at race end. "I thought at the start of the race it was very, very slow, I thought maybe, I don't know, temperatures just got too high or something with the tyres.

"At the start, you're obviously fighting other cars and maybe things like that can happen," he added. "But we did a three-stop race, so I had four sets of tyres today, and was very, very slow on all of them, so not sure how. A really, really sad race."

Trailing his teammate, Lando Norris by 28 points, last weekend was the first time he has out-qualified the British youngster since Mexico, and even then it was down to the youngster having his Q2 time deleted for exceeding the track limits.

The Woking outfit is convinced that the upgrades it took to Spain met expectations, and as a result Andreas Seidl is equally mystified.

"Obviously disappointed with how the race on Daniel's car went," said the German. "It's something we need to understand because all the tyre sets we fitted today he simply struggled with grip compared to all the other cars around him.

"He just went backwards in the race, which we need to understand because it's always a shame that we couldn't fight with both cars for points."

However, as was the case last year, Norris appears to constantly have the edge on his rival, and while most of Ricciardo's issues in 2021 were said to be about the Australian learning to understand the car, his issues appear to have carried over in to this season also.

"Lando definitely has an edge," Brown told Sky Sports. "We would obviously like to see Daniel much closer to Lando and have a good inter-team battle.

"Daniel is just not comfortable yet with the car," he continued, we're trying everything we can. Again it was a disappointing weekend.

"Short of Monza and a few races, it's generally not kind of met his or our expectations, as far as what we were expecting," said the American. "I think all you can do is keep working hard as a team, keep communications going, keep pushing and hope that whatever is not kind of clicking at the moment clicks shortly."

Harsh words from the American, unlike Seidl who appears far more understanding of Ricciardo's plight.

Indeed, listening to Brown one might almost suspect some sort of agenda... but then it's not as if the Woking outfit might have an American driver waiting in the wings... a move that would surely bring a smile to the faces of the Liberty paymasters, what with there being three races in the U S of A next year.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Editor, 25/05/2022 11:58

"Oh well, at least Daneil can take some comfort from the new (crypto) sponsor he's personally partnered with.

Can't tell you more yet.... UNDER EMBARGO - 00:01 AM (BST) MAY 26, 2022 "

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2. Posted by Rock Doc, 25/05/2022 11:52

"It's been depressing to see Daniel struggle in the car for the last 2 seasons. As you can see from the comments below he is extremely popular with fans and we all hope he can get back in contention. We make excuses for him and try to see the best of it. After all it can't be him.

But i'm beginning to feel we are all looking at this through rose tinted glasses. This is the second year and second car that he is struggling with. It is becoming obvious that McLaren is not the team for him.

It does look like his fate may have already been written by the team. But this may be what he needs to get back his Mojo. A new team."

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3. Posted by Defiant, 24/05/2022 23:36

"I for one am a little worried that Daniel has lost his mojo, although I'm just hoping that Lando is just that good and making it look that way."

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4. Posted by kenji, 24/05/2022 22:46

"@R1Racing71.....no one can outperform the car. Whatever performance can be extracted is what is inherently available according to the laws of physics. As for McLaren, to experience the same grip problems across all tyre compounds suggests that something fundamental, like set up, is the main problem. "

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5. Posted by @R1Racing71, 24/05/2022 18:12

"This doesn’t bode well for F1’s most universally popular driver. These comments suggest the descision is already made.
Bottas however seems to be outperforming his Sauber…….."

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6. Posted by Mad Matt, 24/05/2022 17:51

"As I said in a previous post, I've got a slight soft spot for Lando having watched him since he was 14 and I enjoy seeing him do well. Having said that there's no way last weekend's GP was a true reflection of the difference in ability of the two drivers.

I strongly suspect that Daniel was caught out by a setup which worked well for him in qualifying but didn't adapt well to a hot race, hence the tyres feeling like they'd got oil on them no matter what he did.

Either way I'm looking forward to seeing both do better at Monaco."

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7. Posted by kenji, 24/05/2022 13:25

"@ Wokinchap....whilst we disagree on many matters F1, I fully agree with your post. Well said."

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8. Posted by Wokingchap, 24/05/2022 13:15

"When the car shines Daniel shines.
Here's wishing him all the best for Monaco."

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9. Posted by kenji, 24/05/2022 12:55

"This is certainly a dilemma for both team and driver. The fact is that no matter what compound tyre was on the car Ricciardo struggled with no grip. This was evidenced by his lap times and a driver of Ricciardo's calibre just doesn't go to sleep on the job. Despite Zak Brown's spray which is being selectivwlty reported in full or in part and alternatively the encouraging support given by Seidl seems to indicate that there may well be an agenda which was mooted earlier this year. Brown openly stated that he wanted to see an American driver in F1 and then he went and gave Norris a lengthy contract! That alone is a message that no driver wants to witness. If Ricciardo has lost his 'mojo' then it's a different situation but I don't believe that to be the case. The pressure will be immense but he is up for it and I simply hope that he can put his detractors in their place at Monaco this weekend."

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10. Posted by KKK, 24/05/2022 12:29

"Ahh, Zak, never blame the car, its the driver ! (NOT)"

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Ricciardo not meeting McLaren's expectations, says Brown

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