F1 News 2022: Unfortunately, the track played more to our weaknesses than our strengths, expressed Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo crossed the line in P11 at the Miami GP only to tumble to 13th due to a post-race time penalty.

McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris after their win at the Italian GP last year. (Image: Twitter)
By Niranjan Shivalkar | May 13, 2022 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

McLaren was one of just three teams who failed to score points in Miami, with Daniel Ricciardo crossing the line in P11 only to tumble to 13th due to a post-race time penalty. While it was a disappointing outcome following the team’s recent upturn in fortunes, the Australian was able to comprehend the causes of his lack of pace, with the Miami International Autodrome taking part of the responsibility. Ricciardo’s qualifying began to go awry when a downshifting issue held him in the garage for longer than intended in Q2. As a result of not having enough time to completely prepare his tyres on a frantic out-lap with the clock ticking, he ended up with a poor P14 grid place.

‘We’ll keep our eyes forward’

The Australian driver said that the track played a bit more to their weaknesses than strengths, Lots of long corners, lots of long straights, so they got to work on that. They’ll keep at it, there’s a lot of things to observe, address and will keep their eyes forward. “Unfortunately, the track played a bit more to our weaknesses than our strengths, so yeah, what do you do. We’ll keep at it, there’s a lot of things to observe, address and we’ll keep our eyes forward. I think this track certainly played to our weaknesses. Lots of long corners, lots of long straights, so we’ve got to work on that.” said the Mclaren driver.

Read more: Freitas appointed as the F1 race director for the Spanish GP

Time penalty for Ricciardo 

To make matters worse, he was found to have gained an advantage after racing wide around Turn 12 as he fought hard with Kevin Magnussen’s Haas after the race resumed, earning himself a time penalty that put him to P13. Ricciardo exclaimed that It is tough when one does a long race like that and ends up with no points. “It is tough when you do a long race like that and don’t get in the points but what’s done is done, we’ll keep working. Barcelona, everyone will have a few updates, hopefully ours sprinkle a little more juice on it than others and we’ll come back again,” continued the Australian, as he turned his attention to the next race. “Barcelona should suit us a bit more, so I’m looking forward to that.”

The Spanish Grand Prix is often where the first large sets of improvements come, so that, along with a track layout that appears to favor the MCL36, might easily propel Ricciardo back into the points for the second time this season. Barcelona hosted the teams for pre-season testing in February, with McLaren looking in terrific form around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.