Daniel Ricciardo feeling upbeat as McLaren make progress for Australian GP

McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo says that he is feeling fairly optimistic after a positive showing from the team in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Woking-based team have had their struggles so far this season, with them finishing outside the points in Bahrain at the opening race.

Saudi Arabia was a little better with Lando Norris at least finishing inside the top ten, though, and it appears those incremental gains are continuing with the MCL36 in Melbourne this weekend.

Indeed, the team have got both cars inside the top ten for the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, and local hero Daniel Ricciardo will be eager to try and convert that into a good points haul in front of a home crowd.

Post-session on Saturday, he told Sky that he’s feeling pretty satisfied with things at the moment, and that despite there still being things he wants to improve he’s overall quietly confident about his chances in tomorrow’s race:

“I think generally satisfied. I mean it’s the first Q3 of the year so from that point of view I’m happy.

“The whole weekend has been really good, the only problem was the final run so I was hurting a little bit, I’m not really sure what that was but I’m generally happy with how the weekend has been.

“I feel like I’m getting there, I don’t think I’m having to catch up from missing some testing and I know what the car is doing but I think there’s a little bit more to exploit, but I do feel at one with the car for the most part.

“I hope so, we haven’t really done a long run but it feels alright and I think we could put up a fight with Mercedes, we’ll be alright and I’m quietly confident.”

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