Daniel Ricciardo hoping to bounce back in Monaco with McLaren upgrade
Daniel Ricciardo is hoping to reignite his Formula 1 season in Monaco after a disappointing weekend in Spain.
Daniel Ricciardo on the grid before the Spanish Grand Prix. (McLaren Racing)
Ricciardo finished twelfth in Barcelona but is in high spirits heading to the principality, where he has qualified on pole twice, winning the historic race in 2018.
“I’m bouncing back from a difficult race and looking forward to getting stuck into the Monaco weekend," said the Australian.
"I have a lot of history with this race so I’m hoping to make a mark in the MCL36 this year and score some points for the team."
"The atmosphere around Monaco is always exciting so it will be great to soak it all up."
"I'm also really looking forward to the short commute to track from my home!"
Ricciardo was able to qualify ninth for the Spanish grand prix but had a miserable race, falling to twelfth and out of the points by the chequered flag.
“Off the back of Spain, I’ve got my head in the data with the engineers to make sure we’re in the best position possible to fight for a top 10 finish," said Ricciardo.
"We learnt a lot about the car, particularly with the good upgrades, and I have great trust in the team for us to keep improving."
"Hopefully we can put together a solid weekend and fight for a top 10 finish."
"Let’s keep pushing!”"
McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl said the team was happy with upgrades introduced in Barcelona.
"Our upgrades worked as expected in Spain and the team at track and back at the factory continue to work incredibly hard to optimize the car," said Seidl.
"It will be interesting to see how the new regulation cars run on the tight streets."
"The circuit really puts the drivers to the test with very little margin of error so the likelihood of safety cars is a lot higher, meaning there are lots of different strategy options we can look at for qualifying and the race."
The Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco gets underway with Free Practice 1 at 10pm Friday night (AEST).
