F1 | Bahrain GP | McLaren confident in its ability to compete for good points
McLaren drivers and team principal expressed how satisfied they were with their qualifying results, and said how confident they are to get good points from the battles ahead
Looking solid during the pre-season testing, McLaren seemed to be in good shape to fight for top positions ahead of the first qualifying session of the season opener at Bahrain.
Reflecting on his first steps within his new team, Ricciardo asserted how pleased he was with the results the team got, and indicated how comfortable the car felt beneath him.
“It’s a pleasant relief to get the first quali out of the way and get a decent result.”
“I think, after the test, I was fairly comfortable in the car but probably more so on long runs.”
Entering the qualifying session, the drivers from Woking comfortably made the Q1 cut, with Daniel Ricciardo sitting in fifth place, and Lando Norris in eighth. Considering how abrasive the circuit of Sakhir is, the stakes in Q2 were, along with qualifying for Q3, to choose a tyre compound that will give them more flexibility in terms of strategy. Both drivers consequently opted for the C3 — The medium tyre compound as their first attempt to make the Q2 cut.
With Ricciardo having his time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4, and also seeing the competitiveness of cars mounted on the red-banded rubber — Ferrari and Alpha Tauri — McLaren finally switched their drivers to the softest compound, the C4.
In the end, after a really close session, the drivers from Woking ended in P6 for Daniel Ricciardo, and P7 for Lando Norris, behind Leclerc who will start the race from P4 on softs, and Gasly in P5, on medium tyres.
Assessing the work he and the team have to still put, Ricciardo asserted how happy he was with the progress made, while also hailing the way McLaren approached the challenges, without putting too much pressure on him.
“First one’s done” 👊🧡
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 27, 2021
🎥 @danielricciardo pic.twitter.com/JaZ9YpPjNJ
“I still felt that, if anything, my Saturdays were going to need improving – and I think they still do – but I certainly made a nice step from a couple of weeks ago and I’m happy.”
“We've got a good platform to build on now, I’m really happy with how we approached it as a team, not putting too much pressure on me. We were a bit off the pace yesterday, but they could see I was just trying to figure it out.”
Contemplating the positions in which he and his teammate will start the race on Sunday, the Aussie driver sounded really confident as he said:
"I don’t want to do somersaults or backflips just yet, but it’s certainly a nice start for the campaign and I think we’ll do alright tomorrow.”
“There’s a mix of cars around us, so I’m looking forward to that, and with Lando alongside hopefully we can get some big points for the team and start the year right.”
When asked about what their target will be during the race, Ricciardo clearly set his sight on the Ferrari driver Leclerc, while anticipating a difficult start for Pierre Gasly.
“Charles [Leclerc] will be our target for the whole race.”
“Pierre [Gasly] starting on medium will be vulnerable, so we will try to jump him at the start”, he stated.
Lando Norris on the other hand was reminded of his predictions concerning the grid pecking order. The young briton believed it would be the usual four — The two Mercedes and the two Red Bulls — trusting the top spots.
As Norris was then asked how unexpected it was for him to see Leclerc up there with the heavy weights, he replied:
“Not really”
“They [Ferrari] looked quick in testing.”
He added how tricky the qualifying session was, because of how close the performances among teams were.
For the McLaren protege, getting P6 and P7 was a good enough result, with the Sakhir track being more prone to racing than qualifying.
“First one of the season, so I think we’re pretty happy with sixth and seventh for the team and getting to see where the car is – it’s a good position for tomorrow.”
“It’s probably a bit more of a race track than a qualifying track, so hopefully, after focusing a little bit on that throughout the weekend, we can be strong tomorrow.”
For McLaren Team Principal, Andreas Seidl, the first qualifying session of the season was satisfying, as he praised the work of their manufacturer — Mercedes. The German manager was very confident in his team’s chances to compete for good points, despite what he believes will be a close battle with several other teams.
“We’ve got off to a good start in our first qualifying session of the year.”
“Great work from the whole team, along with our colleagues from Mercedes, which allowed us to execute three very good qualifying sessions.”
“Both drivers put in excellent laps to get us into Q3 and then to P6 and P7 on the grid. We saw the expected close battle between ourselves and several other teams – and that makes for an exciting race tomorrow.”
“Our long runs have been good so far, both in testing and free practice, so we’re going into the race confident in our ability to compete for good points.”
That quali was TENSE. ⏱😬
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 27, 2021
Ready for more, tomorrow? #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 pic.twitter.com/dhBQC0N5P1
