Daniel Ricciardo left confused by McLaren’s ‘zero pace’ during British GP: It was just a bit odd

McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that he was a bit confused by his car’s lack of pace during the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

While Ricciardo’s teammate, Lando Norris, had a fine performance, the Australian driver was once again forced to play second fiddle. Having started the race from 14th spot, Ricciardo finished the race in P13 and had a pretty uneventful afternoon.

Speaking to the media after the race, the McLaren driver said he was a bit confused by the car’s lack of pace and said it was a bit odd.

“Zero pace. A little bit like Barcelona where I didn’t seem to operate at the same level of grip as the cars around me. I could just feel it through the tyres as well, trying to carry speed.”

“Obviously a little bit confused by that at the moment. It’s clear what I felt, but the reasons why I’m obviously not sure. It was just a bit odd, so we have a bit of investigating to do,” said Ricciardo.

The Australian also opened up about the DRS issue which added more misery to his terrible evening and said hopefully the team will have answers in Austria.

“Obviously, it’s tough to overtake with that as well. But simply, we weren’t really quick enough anyway. It was a bit of a lonely afternoon. Hopefully, we find some answers because obviously it’s a quick turnaround to Austria,” said Ricciardo.

McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl praised Norris for his fine performance but didn’t have an explanation for the Australian driver’s struggles at Silverstone.

“For us, the positive we take away is that we had a more competitive car this weekend and we’re back in the points after two difficult races. Lando looked competitive all day but unfortunately lost out to Fernando in the final pit-stop, behind the Safety Car.

“Daniel’s weekend didn’t go to plan, which will need careful analysis over the next few days. He wasn’t in a position to deliver competitive lap times yesterday and today. In addition, he experienced a DRS failure that required an additional pit-stop mid-race and required him to run without the DRS in the second half of the race,” said Seidl.