Daniel Ricciardo was happy to finally get off the mark in 2022 after a comfortable run to P6 at the Australian Grand Prix.

The Aussie favourite largely shadowed McLaren teammate Lando Norris for the 58 laps around Albert Park, eventually finishing just four-tenths behind the Briton who was managing power problems on the final lap.

But it was a relatively simple race for Ricciardo, something he thinks was crucial to the Woking-based team’s stronger performance.

“I think that’s probably the best way to sum up the weekend – we’ll take it!” he said on if his race was “drama-free”.

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“I mean, after Bahrain I was still very positive and I knew we could make a turnaround. I didn’t think it would happen already, so for that reason, I’ll definitely take it.

“The weekend as a whole has been just smoother, smoother for all of us and we’ve shown a lot more for it.”

Ricciardo himself has been playing catch up after missing the second pre-season test with Covid-19, but does feel he’s getting on top of the MCL36.

“I think parts of my race were more competitive. In the beginning, I felt strong on the medium. But then on the hard that kind of last three quarters I drifted a bit back,” he explained.

“I found a bit of pace after but still in some parts of the race I can keep chipping away at.

“But yeah, team result was mega compared to the last few.”

As for his home fans, the F1 race saw the biggest ever weekend attendance for a sporting event in Australia as a record 420,000 people packed into Albert Park across the three days.

“It has been nuts!” Ricciardo admitted. “When I got out of the car there was a pretty loud cheer and I was like, wow this is a cheer for sixth.

“I couldn’t imagine what it would be like winning here or even a podium, I would have to keep my earplugs in.

“It is pretty awesome and I’m happy for everyone that came out. I think they had a good weekend.”

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