Daniel Ricciardo states that he and McLaren want to be getting better results after yet another disappointing Qualifying session which sees the Australian line up on the seventh row of the grid for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix.

The 2018 winner of this race was already under pressure going into the weekend after his team boss Zak Brown said on Sky Sports Any Driven Monday that the Australian’s time with the team hadn’t lived up to expectations.

Ricciardo then gave himself an extra headache after crashing in the second Practice session, meaning that he would go into the final Practice session playing catch up. As a result of his limited track time, the Australian could only manage 14th on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

During a McLaren media session in which Motorlat was present at with other media outlets, Ricciardo feels that he has a similar feeling as to how he felt after qualifying for last year’s race which saw him being lapped by his teammate, who went on to finish third.

“If I compare this weekend to last year’s weekend, it’s kind of a similar feeling after qualifying in terms of the gap and the feelings. I think this morning was just about getting back into a rhythm and a groove, and I wasn’t too concerned with, let’s say, being slower this morning; it was more just me getting references and stuff like that, and I think we got out of Q1 in a decent rhythm but then yeah we run a second set in Q2 and times were jumping up with the track evolution.”

Among the many rumours following Ricciardo this weekend is the rumour that his contract with the team that lasts until 2023 may be terminated one year early because of sluggish results.

Even though he does wish to at least see out his contract, Ricciardo wants to see a swift upturn in fortunes from both him and McLaren, but he categorically stated the results would not necessarily determine the future of their partnership.

“I do have a contract in place, (but) personally, I don’t want to be qualifying 14th, especially on a circuit that I still have a big admiration for, but equally, it’s not just me; it’s the team wants to see me getting better results. I don’t think it necessarily changes the course moving forward, but for sure there's an emphasis on us improving together.”