Daniel Ricciardo's best weekend of the year can't hide the fact that his McLaren team faces increasing pressure from a resurgent Ferrari, according to the Australian's teammate Lando Norris.
Ricciardo finished the Spanish Grand Prix in sixth place, two spots ahead of Norris, but of concern will be the fact that McLaren had only the fourth fastest car this weekend.
McLaren remains third in the championship, but only five points ahead of Ferrari, who finished fourth (Charles Leclerc) and seventh (Carlos Sainz) in Spain.
Ricciardo was nearly 20 seconds behind Leclerc at the finish, and less than a second clear of Sainz, who likely would have passed the Australian had the circuit been more conducive to overtaking.
"The Ferrari's have been good all year, I don't know why people underestimate them so much," Norris said.
"They've been one of the quickest cars in terms of cornering all season, when you come to this track then they're quick.
Norris admitted McLaren were in a fight with Ferrari even before the weekend started.
"We knew they were going to be particularly good here. We probably could have matched them yesterday (in qualifying) even though they probably had a slightly better car.
"But today, in the long run, when you needed a bit more rear (grip), when you had to rely on the car a bit more, then we struggled.
"We know the weaknesses of the car … we have a plan of what we still need to improve upon, but it's not easy."
Ferrari's improvement is a welcome sign for Formula One, after the sport's most iconic team endured a nightmare 2020.
Leclerc and then-teammate Sebastian Vettel could only manage one podium finish each during a horror season, but the Monegasque driver told Sky Sports this year's car is a big step forward.
"We have more power, more downforce, more grip," he explained.
"Especially for the race it seems to help us a lot, last year, the balance during the race was very difficult, whenever you put high fuel, you feel the weaknesses of the car a lot more.
"This year it feels a lot better."
It means extra pressure on Ricciardo and Norris as McLaren fights to retain the third place it secured in 2020, with every position in the championship worth millions of dollars in prizemoney to the teams.
Ricciardo spent much of the Spanish race defending his position, firstly from the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who eventually go by, and then from Sainz.
"I had some good problems," Ricciardo told Sky Sports.
"The start was good and that got me in front of a couple of faster cars, therefore that meant I had to defend pretty much the whole race.
"Obviously we didn't have the pace today, but it was nice to hold off a faster car."
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/motorsport/f1-2021-spanish-grand-prix-daniel-ricciardo-sixth-mclaren-under-pressure-from-ferrari/c8e9a06a-3fcb-49e8-9467-e7f3c424ff6e
0 Comments