Ricciardo “happy with the bigger picture” after Dutch GP

Daniel Ricciardo feels like he “picked up some of the pieces” during a more positive Dutch Grand Prix, crossing the line two places shy of a points-finish despite his confidence swaying over the weekend.

Brand the outing “a good race”, Ricciardo was satisfied with his twelfth-place finish in the Netherlands, becoming a competitive force in the midfield and finishing ahead of his teammate whose strategy gamble didn’t pay off. 

“I think actually it was a good race,” Ricciardo said.

“My frustration yesterday was more at myself more than anything – yes, we could have done a bit more, in hindsight, with the car, maybe made some bigger changes from the first to second set of tyres to help a bit with my feeling, but at the end of the day, it is tricky for everyone. 

“I spoke to drivers on the parade or yesterday afternoon and everyone was having difficulties. 

“So, at some point, you have to try and make it work and deep down, I was disappointed that I didn’t make it work. 

“Obviously, that affects the position today, but honestly, I was happy with the race.”

Originally inheriting one grid position due to Alex Albon’s disqualification, a pitlane start for Kevin Magnussen promoted the RB driver further up the order into P13. 

Picked off by Lewis Hamilton as the lights went out, a fight with the other Haas driver put Ricciardo back in his place as the field completed Lap 1 of 72.

For the next 28 laps, Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber consumed Ricciardo’s line of vision, but despite running within DRS range of the Fin, an overtake was an impossible task.

Instead, RB called Ricciardo into the pits for his first and only stop of the race, rejoining in P17 behind the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

As the order reshuffled, Bottas returned to Ricciardo’s sights, allowing the #3 to redeem his earlier efforts with a successful overtake around the sweeping Turn 1.

Back at the rear of Stroll’s AMR24, Ricciardo had five seconds of leeway between himself and the Canadian’s position due to Stroll’s five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane. 

With the RB sitting close, but not quite close enough, Stroll held onto his track position, however, was relegated after the penalty was applied, promoting Ricciardo into P12 after the chequered flag.

Daniel Ricciardo driving the #3 VCARB 01 on track during the Dutch Grand Prix. Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

“We were in that kind of midfield battle, and I think the cars in front of us were a bit faster, especially Pierre [Gasly], so we probably couldn’t do much more,” Ricciardo said.

“I’m happy with the bigger picture of the race; in terms of pace we pushed during the times we had, catching Lance [Stroll] and Nico [Hulkenberg] towards the end of the race.

“It wasn’t good enough for points but I leave more positive than I did yesterday. 

“It is not like yesterday was a crisis, it was just more some internal frustration. 

“You obviously want to start the second half of the season on point and I felt like I didn’t start the way I envisioned, but today we picked up some of the pieces, so happier with that.”

A twelfth-place finish marks Ricciardo’s second-best result at the Dutch Grand Prix, having finished in P11 and P17 during his time at McLaren. 

And although a positive weekend like Ricciardo’s Zandvoort venture is welcomed, the Australian says the fluctuating results have taken a slight toll on him as driver and person, however, nothing like his days in papaya orange.

“It’s tricky, it is like you can go from one day to the next: you can feel like s**t, you can feel like you are hanging on… I don’t want to say for dear life, that’s extreme, but you can get low and then 24 hours later, you can be ‘oh, I’m back, we are good’,” he said.

“I do my best to try and stay level and just maintain that constant level of confidence and self-belief, but it does still sway a little bit up and down.” 

“My first season at McLaren, I was having the lows and the highs and that was already like ‘this is a bit strange’, but then I look at the second season and think ‘the first season wasn’t too bad’, my second half of the season was actually pretty good. 

“When I thought it was bad, it got worse and as I said, it sort of spiralled a bit out of control and not only did it mess with the on-track stuff, but off-track, I was not really as excited to race because, ultimately, I lost confidence in myself and you are just in that negative cycle. 

“I definitely don’t feel like I am there and whatever happens from this point moving forward and my future, I will certainly, whatever day it is that I leave the sport, I won’t feel those feelings that I did then, I was definitely in a different place. 

“The ups and downs are different to the ups and downs of a few years ago.”

This coming weekend, Ricciardo will revisit one of “the ups” from his time at McLaren as the paddock heads to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, an event Ricciardo picked up his most recent race win at in 2021.

The second part of the first double-header back from the summer break will run from August 30-September 1, with Free Practice allowing drivers to test out the slight track adjustments and the fresh tarmac. 

“Hopefully, Monza, we can be ok,” the #3 said.

“I wouldn’t say on paper it maybe jumps at us and says it’s going to be awesome, but I don’t know what I can predict this year so I’m not even going to say that, I’ll just… we’ll rock up there and I’ll drive the best to my ability and hope it works out.”

In front of Ferrari’s passionate Tifosi, FP1 will kick off at 9:30 PM on Friday, August 30.

Image: Joe Portlock/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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