Daniel Ricciardo hasn't had the dream stint with McLaren that he was hoping for. After a maiden season with the team resulting in just one Formula 1 podium to his name, a resounding win at Monza, the Australian has otherwise been unable to break through.

Ricciardo finished 13th in the recently concluded Monaco Grand Prix, his fourth consecutive race landing outside of the top 10. That's also where he stands in the standings, placing 11th among all F1 drivers.

After 29 races, the sample size is no longer small enough to ignore. But is Daniel Ricciardo truly losing his touch or has it been a disconnect between the driver and his car?

There's been reason to believe that it may be the latter, with the vehicle specifications still supposedly favoring McLaren teammate Lando Norris. McLaren currently sits at fourth place among constructors with 59 points, but Norris is responsible for 48 of them, more than quadruple that of Ricciardo's total.

It didn't help that a Covid-positive Ricciardo was largely absent during the pre-season testing period, a crucial time to get his input after voicing out a disconnect with the “peculiar” car from last season.

Danny Ric's latest comments after his poor showing at Monaco seem to reflect that to still be the case. Ricciardo, the driver who arguably carries the most confidence off track as any F1 driver, was honest about not exactly feeling confident about his connection with his own car.

“It’s tough. I mean, no mistake, Monaco you need confidence,” said Daniel Ricciardo after his 13th place finish at the F1 Monaco GP. “You need to be at one with the car; for sure if you’re not quite there it can show on the stopwatch. So as much as I love this place, at the core, that’s what you need.

It was Red Bull's Sergio Perez who finished atop the podium in Monaco and made the renowned jump into the pool that is customary with a win. Four years ago, Danny Ric earned the very same honor for Red Bull in a car that was more suited to his strengths. But now, he's struggling to keep pace in the McLaren, particularly during races featuring several low speed sectors such as Monaco.

Daniel Ricciardo knows the “reality” of the situation that he's dealing with in trying to find success in the McLaren. Despite a year and a half worth of adjustments and discussions, both made known to the media and behind closed doors, his displeasure with the car remains evident.

Via Formula 1:

“I’ll say there is still some stuff to get on top off, and obviously it’s been a while now, so I wish it still wasn’t the case, but I think the reality is that. I think there will be some tracks where it just clicks from the first practice and where good, but I think I’ll expect to probably still work at it and try to keep trying.”

He may only have til the end of the 2022 season to “keep trying” given Zak Brown's latest comments. With both McLaren and Ricciardo able to exercise an option to divorce one another, the writing appears to be on the wall for his time wearing the orange racing suit.

“I don’t want to get into the contract, but there are mechanisms in which we’re committed to each other, and mechanisms in which we’re not,” Brown said about McLaren's commitment level to Ricciardo in 2023.

With more than half the F1 calendar left to go, there's still a lot of time for Ricciardo to turn his season around. As things stand though, it feels as though he'll just have to overcome his struggles with his own car in order to do so.

“Try to keep trying, that’s it,” said Ricciardo after Monaco. “I won’t go down without a fight but of course I don’t wish to be fighting for 13th. [I'll] try to get back in the points soon.”

Daniel Ricciardo's future in Formula 1 remains uncertain beyond the current campaign. But for now, he can only control what he can control and that's trying to get back to scoring points with perhaps a podium or two sprinkled in if fortune smiles his way. If he can manage to break out of his slump, you can count on him to smile right back.