Ricciardo hopes McLaren don’t slip back as Australian fans ‘stoked’ by F1 return

Daniel Ricciardo hopes McLaren can maintain their performance after a competitive Friday at the Australian Grand Prix.

The home favourite and teammate Lando Norris ran towards the front of the midfield pack throughout practice albeit finishing only just in the points places in P10 and P8 respectively in FP2.

Given McLaren was towards the back of the field in Bahrain just three weeks ago, their results resembled a decent step up the grid.

But Ricciardo admits there’s no guarantee that’s where they’ll be come qualifying and the race.

“Hopefully, there is not too much sandbagging going on with the others,” he said. “The feeling in the car was good. I think both sessions were top 10, hopefully, we can keep that going tomorrow.

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“The main thing is that we have a decent level of confidence in the car. We found a good set-up this afternoon, especially the first part of the session on the medium, I was pretty happy there.

“I think with the softs, I didn’t find as much as I think I can. So yeah, there is more to come from that tyre but otherwise from driving, I felt like I was getting on the limit today.

“So, I don’t have a second in my pocket but of course, you will find a little more as the weekend goes on.”

For F1, returning to Melbourne almost feels like a return to normal given it was there in 2020 that Covid-19 made its first big impact on the sport as the race was cancelled on Friday morning.

And two years on, the buzz at Albert Park is certainly there with massive crowds already at the circuit. 

“It’s always been pretty wild here so there’s no denying that,” Ricciardo said of the atmosphere.

“I don’t recall ever competing at a quiet home race – I think it’s always been pretty good, and the reception’s always been there – but it felt like it was turned up a notch or two, or three…

“Obviously we’ll see the crowds coming more and more over the weekend but it was the busiest Thursday I’ve experienced walking around a paddock [yesterday]. I think everyone’s just stoked to have the race back here; there’s a lot of motorsport enthusiasts and you feel that.”

F1 also returns to a revitalised Albert Park with the roads having been resurfaced and the layout altered for the first time since its debut in 1996.

The aim of the changes is to encourage more overtaking and Ricciardo, who was involved in the redesign process, is confident they will deliver.

“Look, I think it will be better. Is it going to be 10 times better? Probably not to that extent but I think it will be some degree better,” he said.

“I think it’s also complemented by an extra DRS zone, the cars can follow a bit better this year, so if there is not more overtaking I think you are at least going to see more closer racing and more kind of nose to tail.

“I think we will get a fun one Sunday but I don’t know; I am cautious not to oversell it but I’m going to claim all of it if the race is wicked and awesome and everyone’s talking well about it,” he joked, “but the main thing is today it was an enjoyable driving experience.”

As for teammate Lando Norris, he was also pleased by McLaren’s progress.

“Probably our best Friday so far,” said the Brit. “I’m hoping it can kind of continue into tomorrow because we have a good feeling.

“We made a few changes, so we’ve learnt a bit this weekend already, or from the previous few weekends, that we’ve implemented, and I think it’s working reasonably well.

“We’ve taken a small step forward so it’s a good start and hopefully over tonight we can continue that into tomorrow and make a couple of further improvements.”