Daniel Ricciardo scores equal-best performance with McLaren
Monday, 21 June 2021
The Australian still wasn’t ‘totally happy’ with the car.
Daniel Ricciardo has come away from the French Grand Prix with an equal-best performance at McLaren. Crossing the line in sixth place, Ricciardo and team-mate Lando Norris – who finished fifth - gained valuable points in the constructors with nearby rivals Ferrari failing to record a single point.
Ricciardo started the race in 10th place, and it wasn’t long before he began making moves up the field. Gaining a position in the first few corners and then an on-track overtake of Fernando Alonso saw him move into eighth position. He then performed an undercut on AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly during his single pit stop of the race.
His equal-best result with @McLarenF1 👍@danielricciardo showed plenty of fight at the #FrenchGP 👊#F1 pic.twitter.com/ASqJE4JS3J
— F1 Australian Grand Prix (@ausgrandprix) June 20, 2021
“Definitely a positive Sunday. I think it was the race we were hoping for but not the one we expected. I don’t think we expected our closest competitor to score no points, and for us to be the best of the midfield with both cars. That was our dream race and we managed to pull it off”, Ricciardo said after the race.
“I’m really happy with the race, although if I’m honest, I wasn’t totally happy with the car. I was struggling from the laps to grid and then for the whole race. But it felt like everyone else, besides Lando, was struggling more.”
“It was a fun race and I’m happy we brought it home in fifth and sixth for the team today. It’s about time we got back in these positions, so it was a positive day.”
