Daniel Ricciardo must drive to survive as he faces pressure to keep his seat at McLaren

The title of the hit Netflix F1 series is ‘Drive to Survive’. That could also be the tagline for Daniel Ricciardo’s year.

When the Bahrain Grand Prix kick-starts the 2022 season on Sunday night, the 32-year-old Australian will be under more pressure to perform than any other driver on the grid.

The first season of his $50million, three-year deal with McLaren wasn’t a complete disaster, but it was close.

Ricciardo’s move from Renault at the end of 2020 was one of the biggest stories in motor sport, with McLaren banking that his skill and experience would help secure them the coveted third spot in the constructors’ championship – or ‘best of the rest’ as it is known – behind heavyweights Mercedes and Red Bull.

McLaren were also hoping Ricciardo could be a mentor and role model for their number-two driver, 22-year-old Briton Lando Norris.

It didn’t work out that way.

The Aussie broke through for a win in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, with Norris finishing second – but it was the only high point in a shocking season for the 32-year-old

To the obvious disappointment of his employers, and his own personal frustration, Ricciardo never seemed comfortable in the car and rarely looked even a shadow of the driver who had won seven races during his time with Red Bull from 2014 to 2018.

Arch-rivals Ferrari took third place and adding to Ricciardo’s discomfort was the fact that Norris was having the best season in his three-year Formula One career.

The worse Ricciardo performed, the better Norris did – and he did nothing to hide his delight in showing up his older team-mate and supposed mentor.

Rivalry between team-mates is as much a part of F1 as fast pit stops and glamorous WAGS, but it was no coincidence that the two drivers in each of the top three teams in 2021 – Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari – had close working relationships.

In fact, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz give the impression of being best friends, something that could never be said of Norris and Ricciardo.

Teammate Lando Norris said ‘I don’t feel sympathy for him’ when asked about Ricciardo’s struggles in 2021. And if McLaren boss Zak Brown doesn’t think he’s getting value for the ex-Red Bull star’s $15million-a-year contract, he might feel the same way 

A huge raft of new rules could play havoc with Formula One’s pecking order this year. McLaren’s new car (driven by Ricciardo, pictured) showed early promise but ran into problems during testing in Bahrain

Asked by a reporter if he felt any sympathy for Ricciardo as he struggled to come to grips with the McLaren early in the season, Norris answered: ‘It’s not up to me to make Daniel feel better.’

Candid footage of the team-mates in the Netflix series portrays a relationship that appears prickly to say the least. Questioned by a team official over his ‘not up to me to make Daniel feel better’ comment, Norris answers: ‘I told the truth. I don’t feel sympathy for him. Why would I? No driver on the grid would feel sympathy for another driver.’

The cameras are also there in a meeting in which the two drivers clash over whether a 2020 incident in which Norris’s car ‘tapped the wall’ should be classed as ‘a crash’, and Norris shuts Ricciardo down when he questions him over the length of his new $94 million McLaren contract.

It all makes for cringe-worthy viewing.

Even in Ricciardo’s one triumph of the season – his win at Monza in Italy after Verstappen and Hamilton collided and were forced to retire – it could be construed that Norris is attempting to lessen his achievement.

As Ricciardo, who has led for the entire race, is closing in on McLaren’s first GP win in 10 years, Norris moves into second place and begins to cut into his team-mate’s lead.

‘Daniel is going so slowly,’ he complains over the radio to the McLaren garage.

With maximum points assured and fearful of his two drivers crashing into each other, McLaren boss Zak Brown instructs Norris to hold his position, which he does.

The win was a rare highlight for Ricciardo. He finished lower than tenth and therefore ‘out of the points’ in seven of the 22 races and did not finish (DNF) once. In comparison, Norris finished out of the points only once, and had one DNF.

Norris (left), McLaren boss Zak Brown (second from left), Ricciardo and Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas (right) on the podium after last year’s Italian Grand Prix. It was Ricciardo’s first win since 2018 and on recent form, another one could be a long way off

It all added up to a miserable first year in the orange car for the popular West Australian. His long face and slumped shoulders as he shuffled from one poor result to the next were a far cry from the upbeat extrovert with the million-dollar smile who wowed motor racing fans when he burst onto the scene with Toro Rosso in 2012.

I first met him at the Red Bull team launch at Milton Keynes, 80km north-west of London in 2015.

The event was being held at an indoor ski centre for some reason, and I had used the old ‘any chance of a few minutes with a fellow Australian?’ approach to snag a one-on-one interview.

After the obligatory photos with his new team-mate Daniil Kvyat and the Red Bull car were taken on the fake snow, Daniel met me at a table in the cafe and, to be honest, he couldn’t have been nicer.

Admittedly, having won three GPs the previous season, he had plenty to be happy about, but even so he was warm, sincere and generally gave the impression of having the time of his life.

Two things he said stood out.

I asked him how he felt the first time he drove a Formula One car.

‘Scared,’ he said. ‘I put my foot down and the power was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. The speed and the grip were phenomenal. I got out of the car after the lap, and I was shaking.

The Aussie celebrates after winning the Monaco Grand Prix in 2018 – undoubtedly one of the biggest highlights of his career in F1

‘When I took my helmet off the first thing I said was, “Can I go again?” That’s what it’s like. It’s addictive. The more you do it, the more you want to do it. The faster you go, the faster you want to go.’

The other thing was when he talked about the cheers of the crowd.

I couldn’t believe that he could hear anything above the engines’ roar.

‘In qualifying when you cross the line you come off the gas to save fuel a bit and it gets quiet just for a few seconds,’ he said. ‘Right then, if you’ve had a good run, you actually can hear the crowd cheering and that really pumps me up.’

It was a sound Ricciardo got to hear on precious few occasions last season and one which, if hopes to see out his contract with McLaren, he will need to hear a lot more this year.

And it is not just being upstaged by his team-mate Lando Norris again that he will have to avoid.

The word around F1 circles is that McLaren is poised to bring in 22-year-old Indy driver Pato O’Ward if Ricciardo has another poor season.

Two-time Indy winner O’Ward, who drives for the McLaren-Arrow team, was given a test drive in a McLaren Formula One car by team boss Zak Brown in Abu Dhabi in December and says he is keen to move up to F1.

Ricciardo (left) with IndyCar star Pato O’Ward (right), who is rumoured as a possible replacement for the Aussie if he doesn’t pick up the pace in a big way 

Ricciardo will be just as keen to ensure he doesn’t make the move too soon.

Having contracted Covid and missed testing for this weekend’s Bahrain GP, the season hasn’t got off to the best start for Ricciardo but one thing is certain: no matter what happens he will always remain the gregarious Aussie with the giant smile.

After watching Drive to Survive last week I asked an F1 expert what he thought of the episode about Norris and Ricciardo.

‘Lando was a good kid when he started but he comes across as a bit of a brat now,’ he said. ‘The good thing about Daniel is that he’s still the same guy he always was.

‘Just a bit slower.’