Daniel Ricciardo hails "pretty flawless" McLaren test

McLaren

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Ricciardo hails "pretty flawless" McLaren test

McLaren achieved the third highest lap count of any team and topped two of the six sessions

Ewan Gale

Friday 25 February 2022 20:30

Daniel Ricciardo has hailed McLaren for a "pretty flawless" outing at the first pre-season test in Spain.

F1's new era got underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with teams and drivers alike attempting to get to grips with the radically changed cars for the new season.

Whilst almost every team suffered a sizeable setback during the three days of running, McLaren escaped with only small gremlins on the way to setting the third-highest number of laps across the test and setting fastest laps in two of the four opening sessions.

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Ricciardo's final session of the week came on Friday afternoon when the surface was artificially soaked with water in order to allow for wet and intermediate tyre running.

“It was good to get a little bit of wet running, there was quite a lot to learn from that," said the Australian.

"We then got into a different programme to yesterday where we racked up plenty of laps, which was really productive. Now it’s about giving that information back to the team and trying to build on this positive start.

“I think we’re in a good spot, but there’s always something to work on and improve.

"So, we’ll give the team some data to work with and some areas of work to do, I'll focus on what I can keep doing better.

"Overall, a pretty flawless three days for the team, a really awesome start to the season. Thanks to everyone back at MTC for putting the hard work in over the winter to put us in this position.”

Norris hoping for progress in Bahrain

Lando Norris took a share of 154 laps of the 365 completed by McLaren and topped the first day of the test.

The British driver enters his fourth season in F1 this year and has cited the importance of analysing the data collected in Barcelona before heading to Bahrain for the second test on March 10.

"It’s been a good week and start to the year," said Norris. "Many things have gone well.

"Of course, a couple of problems here and there but we’ve got through a lot of our test programmes, and we’ve understood the car more. As a driver, I’ve been able to get comfortable with the car nice and quickly.

"Our focus now moves onto learning and reviewing everything we put together and tested, to try to make progress going into Bahrain, and make sure we’re ready for the first race of the season.

“A massive thanks to the team for getting the car ready. I don’t think we’ve had as many problems as a lot of other teams.

"We’ve had a reliable car and a good car so far that has given me the confidence, so all the hard work is paying off at the minute. We need to keep it up and keep pushing.”