Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo compared McLaren’s positive attitude to the “tough love” philosophy at Red Bull.
Ricciardo raced for Red Bull for a couple of years before his move to Renault. Two years later, he moved to McLaren and completed his debut season with his team.
The move to Woking was supposed to be a redemption arc for the eight-time race winner. Although he did take a win at Monza, the rest of the season was as lacklustre as it could get.
Many critics were having a field day writing him off with every passing race weekend, but his team kept believing in him and backing him.
Ricciardo compared McLaren’s positive attitude to the “tough love” philosophy at Red Bull, and said that he was grateful to the Orange team for supporting him.
As quoted by GP Fans, when asked if he was in a good place during his struggles, the 32-year-old said, “Yeah, I do.
“That’s where the first half of the season was probably even more frustrating because I really do like the environment, and I have good relationships with the team. Everything other than the stopwatch was pretty good, but obviously, I just wasn’t giving them what I wanted to obviously.
“That was in a way, tough. But moments like Monza, even Austin, Austin was a good weekend for me. These weekends are so much cooler because I really do get on with the team, I like their way about racing. I like the support that I’ve had as well.”
Red Bullet
“(Red Bull team advisor) Helmut (Marko) is a guy which, through my junior career, there was a lot of tough love, and I think that was really good for me because it made me grow up quicker,” he continued.
“Here, the first half of the season in particular, there was a lot of support and they weren’t trying to kick me down or put me down when I was already down, they were trying to bring me up.
“I’m not saying I want to be coddled all the time, but I think their way about dealing with it and going about it and not overwhelming me was really nice, and I feel that. I feel that with the team. There is a lot of family-style support.”