It was certainly not the sort of weekend that McLaren F1 Team’s, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris would’ve hoped for, after both drivers finished well outside the points at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Ricciardo who despite being knocked out in Qualifying 1, managed to finish above his team-mate at the Bahrain International Circuit. Having missed the pre-season test at Bahrain due to testing positive for Covid-19, Ricciardo used the race to test all the different tyre compounds available, with the main goal being to get to the finish and collect as much data as possible.
Ricciardo mentioned this after the race where he finished fourteenth, the Australian is fairly confident though that he knows how the team can improve the car.
“It sounds very simple, but the first objective today was to do the race distance and just build some knowledge in the car. I think even just for myself, especially after the last week, just to get that kind of fitness in, was good. We tried all three compounds of tyres, so there is plenty to feedback. I’m pretty clear where our weaknesses lay in the race, so we’ll try to understand that and work on those. I think we had some strengths in some corners as well.
“So, we’ll just feedback everything we can to the team and obviously, we knew it was going to be a tricky day, but we got both cars home and have lots to look at. We will now look ahead to a completely different track in Saudi Arabia to see what that brings.”
“Not what we wanted at all” – Lando Norris
It was an equally disappointing race for Lando Norris, who finished right behind his team-mate in fifteenth place, two places lower than where he started. It was not the way Norris was hoping to start the year, especially after such a strong 2021 season.
Norris Is hopeful that the team can improve the car before this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, otherwise it could be another painful weekend for McLaren.
“Not what we wanted at all; it was a very tough race. We’re a long way from where we want to be and we’ve got work to do to make sure we’re working on every area possible and making the most of every race. We gave it our all today, but it’s just not enough at the moment. We’ll look at all the data from the race today and see how we can improve for Saudi, as well as where we need to improve throughout the season. We’ll do our very best next week to make the most of where we are.”
