McLaren apologise to Ricciardo after failure costs points opportunity

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has apologised to Daniel Ricciardo after a mechanical problem ended the Australian's points chase at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo was lapping in 11th and ahead of team-mate Lando Norris in Jeddah when his McLaren MCL36 slowed to a halt on lap 38.

As one of just three drivers to start the race on the hard compound of Pirelli tyre, Ricciardo's strategy appeared to have set him on course for a top 10 finish before the reliability woes hit.

“Obviously, we can only apologise to Daniel that we didn’t give him the material that he deserves to have because from his side I think it was a strong weekend," said Seidl.

"With the strategy we chose with him, to offset him a bit from everyone else after he was stuck in the early stint, I think it would have paid off and I think he could have finished right where Lando finished.”

Asked what the problem was that had caused the car to stop, Seidl added: “We still need to analyse why exactly we lost drive. It is something we experienced for the first time."

Norris took the chequered flag to finish seventh and claim McLaren's first point of the season.

“For sure, we had two great drives with Lando and Daniel maximising everything we could give them at the moment with this car [but], of course, we do not forget that we also benefitted from cars dropping out," continued Seidl.

“Simply good motivation for all of us to keep working hard in order to bring more performance to the car in the next weeks and races as quickly as we can.”

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