Ricciardo riding emotional "high" into Imola

Daniel Ricciardo is hoping to ride his emotional "high" from scoring at his home race in Melbourne and carry the momentum gained into this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The Australian endured a difficult first two weekends of the season as McLaren struggled for pace but was able to follow home team-mate Lando Norris in a team five-six at Albert Park.

McLaren arrives for F1's first sprint weekend of the season knowing it has scored double-points finishes in both visits to Imola since the track returned from its hiatus from the calendar in 2020, with the hope now of repeating the feat for a third time.

"I’m still on a high after a strong result in front of an incredible home crowd in Melbourne, so hopefully we can keep the momentum going," said Ricciardo.

"With the sprint format returning, anything is possible so we’ve got to get our heads down, keep going with the improvements and extract as much as we can from the car.

“It’s a technically difficult track that’s fast and flowing, so it will be good to see how these new cars get on.

"Last year we got a nice haul of points in Imola, and I am hoping we can get some more this year."

Despite the more positive result two weeks ago, McLaren sits 80 points adrift of Ferrari after battling neck-and-neck with the Scuderia throughout the entirety of last year.

Ricciardo added: "Whilst the weekend in Melbourne was definitely a positive step forward, we still have a long way to go to get the car in the place we want it to be."

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