Daniel Ricciardo gives positive feedback on McLaren

Daniel Ricciardo has said it’s hard to say just which team is on top at the moment as the first test week in Formula 1 comes towards an end but he does feel positive about the work and progress McLaren are making.

The afternoon session of F1 testing is underway in Barcelona for the final time this week, with the curtain coming down on three days of running.

It’s been fascinating to watch the drivers get to grips with their new cars, too, but it is hard to say just who is looking strongest as many are keeping their powder dry for now and not driving flat out.

Even so, McLaren and Ferrari have perhaps looked in the best shape based on what we have seen so far, and Ricciardo says that his team are feeling happy about the work they have done up to this point:

“It’s hard to quantify who’s ahead at the moment,” he said.

“One of the things you want is laps and we’ve had both days over 100 laps. We’re in a good position from that point of view with reliability, and the more laps we do, the more things we can test and learn from the car.

“I think we’re in a good place from that point of view. And we seem to be up at the pointy end of the times.

“But I don’t think Mercedes or Red Bull have really done anything showing any cards yet, so I don’t really look too much at the times. Ferrari, I think they look solid. They look consistently good.

“I’m not trying not to read too much into it yet. It’s still early and we need to focus on ourselves.

“There’s definitely some good things I feel in the car and as always some things to work on. But I think we’ve started off with a good base.”