It was a decent day at the office for the McLaren F1 Team today at the final Friday of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 season for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Lando Norris sat out the first practice session, with Pato O’Ward stepping into his place. A return to the cockpit saw Norris finish eleventh, which was over two tenths behind his team-mate in ninth, who only completed half the number of laps.
Norris has already secured his position as the ‘best of the rest’ ahead of Esteban Ocon in the Drivers’ Championship but he will be determined to help the team finish above the French outfit in the Constructors’ Standings, despite that looking very unlikely.
“A reasonable day. Having swapped out for Pato in FP1 I was playing a bit of catch-up and I’m still a little bit behind, but I think we made a decent start to the weekend. We’ll make some tweaks overnight and try to take a step forward tomorrow.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “I think we’re in a good spot”
Daniel Ricciardo completed his last Friday with McLaren, and it was a competitive day at the office for the Australian driver.
Ricciardo didn’t complete as many laps as he would have liked in both sessions, but practice one saw him finish eighth. An issue in practice two saw only fourteen laps in the session, but he still managed to finish ninth over two tenths ahead of Norris.
Ricciardo will be hoping to go out in style this weekend, after what will be considered a disappointing two seasons with the British outfit.
“That was good fun. We had a little bit of a limit on running due to managing an oil leak but still had a pretty good day, we were fairly competitive. Just a few more things to find for tomorrow, but I think we’re in a good spot.”
