McLaren dismiss Ricciardo media storm impact

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has dismissed any idea that Daniel Ricciardo is being affected by the media storm surrounding his current struggles.

The Australian has suffered a challenging start to his second season with the Woking-based outfit as team-mate Lando Norris has prospered, scoring 37 more points across the first seven races.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown's comments about Ricciardo's time at the team not living up to expectations triggered a snowball effect of speculation, with the American later suggesting there were "mechanisms" within the contract to break ties before the end of next season.

Asked if the brewing storm was having any impact on Ricciardo, Seidl replied: "I don't think so. Daniel has been here for quite some time, he is very experienced and we are very experienced as a team and we know that we simply have to keep working.

"There is no magic, there is no shortcut, we just have to keep going and that is what we are doing.

"He is committed from his side, we are fully committed, we try to help him, we try to help him also with seeing what we can do on the car in order for him to feel more comfortable and that is what we are focused on.

"In general, we also need to separate the different issues that have been happening in the last few weekends. We know what I said after the Barcelona race where we clearly found an issue on the car."

Seidl explains Brown comments on Ricciardo

Despite the continued speculation surrounding Ricciardo's future given his failure to score since the Imola sprint, Seidl has insisted McLaren remains committed to helping the eight-time race winner progress.

"When you read the comments from Zak, what he stated wasn't really a criticism, it was a statement of Daniel is disappointed, we are disappointed but we are committed to making it work," added Seidl.

"If you just read the headlines, obviously to get the clicks it is then a different story but it is always important to read the full quote. Everyone is committed to making it work and that is what we spend our energy on."

Explaining how the team seeks to safeguard its personnel from public criticism, Seidl added: "In general, the reason why I love motorsport or F1 is that it is a team sport.

"It doesn't matter if you are an engineer or mechanic, someone from marketing, someone from the commercial team or communications, I think it is important to have a culture within the team where you speak openly within the team on things that need to be addressed, things that need to be improved.

"At the same time it is also my responsibility, I am fully aligned with Zak that we have to protect the team and not just the drivers, everyone, from the public.

"There is a lot of pressure on us, it is very public but that is also how I understand it is my job, and I have never seen an engineer, mechanic or driver in my last 20 years who has done a better job because of public criticism."

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