Daniel Ricciardo's disappointing Monaco Grand Prix highlighted once again his struggles with McLaren's 2021 car, but the Aussie admits that his lamentations over his current hardship are "getting old".
After five races in which he has underperformed relative to everyone's expectations, including his own, Ricciardo admits that he's still wrestling with McLaren's MCL35M and struggling to adapt to the car's specific characteristics.
After Ricciardio's lacklustre run last weekend to a distant P12 in Monaco, McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl said that his driver's adjustment to his car remains a work in progress.
"In order to drive our car fast at the moment, you need a special driving style which is not natural for Daniel," Seidl explained. "
"That’s why it’s not easy for him to get the laps in and extract the performance.
"There's no need to panic right now as Ricciardo, we know, is a top driver and, clearly, that McLaren is a really handy bit of kit this season."
Ricciardo's difficulties, that contrast with the strong performances enjoyed this season by his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, are inevitably generating a significant amount of coverage by the media.
But the Aussie acknowledged that he is growing tired of his own grousing, even if a recent encounter with Carlos Sainz – the man he replaced at McLaren – confirmed some of his thoughts about his team's 2021 contender.
"I think, for whatever reason, naturally at the moment the car isn’t quite coming to me," he told Sky Sports F1.
"I bumped into Carlos not too long ago. He was like ‘what do you think, strange huh?’ And I was like ‘thanks for telling me!’
"I feel there is a bit of a characteristic with this car that, let’s say, is a bit strange. Generally, you’ve got a window to work in and you can play inside that area and be fairly okay.
"At the moment, this one is just a very small window and therefore it’s quite easy to make mistakes or do something the car doesn’t respond well to.
"I don’t want to keep talking about it because it’s getting old, but I guess it’s tricky."
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