Australian GP 2022: Ricciardo finishes sixth, grabs first points of season, McLaren team orders

Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren have come under fire for issuing a ‘hands off’ team order that denied the Australian a top-five finish at his home grand prix. But it’s nothing new.

McLaren's Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo gets ready to leave for the third practice session at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on April 9, 2022, ahead of the 2022 Formula One Australian Grand Prix. (Photo by Con Chronis / AF

Daniel Ricciardo was denied a top five finish at his home Grand Prix because of McLaren team orders - but it’s nothing new for the Aussie.

With both McLarens running well for fifth and sixth place finishes having avoided any of the chaos which prompted three safety cars during the Australian Grand Prix, transcripts of the team orders emerged shortly after the conclusion of the race.

Having secured his first points of the season, Ricciardo later confirmed he had been told not to put teammate Lando Norris under pressure on the final lap.

“Daniel, we’re managing something on Lando’s car. It’s OK to close the gap - but don’t put him under any pressure,” Ricciardo was told.

“This is the last lap. Don’t get too close to Lando, he may lose power.

Ricciardo responded: “If he loses power, what do I do?”

The team engineer replied: “Oh, drive past. I just don’t want you to hit him.”

The result was the team’s first double points score of the season.

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Daniel Ricciardo produced his best result of the season in Melbourne. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Ricciardo said after the race the team had just told him to be “sensible” as Norris battled some issues with his car.

“Looked like a bit of a photo finish, I was told Lando had a few issues towards the end. Obviously he slowed down quite a lot so the team said, ‘uhhh… be sensible,” Ricciardo said.

“I had to control myself a little bit but of course a fifth and a sixth is a massive result for us so far this year.

“If you would’ve said this in Bahrain I probably would’ve laughed sarcastically, so very happy with this progress.”

While fans were furious that their home favourite had not bee allowed to pass in the final laps, this is nothing new for the sports and indeed for McLaren.

Last year Ricciardo was forced to “swallow his pride” when his team directed him to let Norris pass at Imola.

The pair were again running fifth and sixth but with 16 laps remaining the Aussie was told to yield.

“I think that’s where I’ve certainly got to swallow my pride,” Ricciardo said at the time. “Honestly, the team were fair enough. They gave me time to try to show my pace.

“There were some laps where I had a bit and I could kind of do a decent time. To be honest where I did push I did start to kill a bit the right front [tyre].

“So yeah, I think they gave me the time that was required to show what I had and today it wasn’t enough. So we’re not going to get into any fisticuffs, it was fair enough.”

It works both ways. When RIcciardo claimed a stunning win at Monza in 2021, Norris had been told to “hold station” and allow his teammate the win.

Team orders aren’t always popular but they’re part of the sport.

THRILLED WITH HOME RESULT

After a difficult start to the year with McLaren, Ricciardo admitted he had not expected a turn-around so quickly after finishing sixth at Albert Park.

Ricciardo finished 14th in the opening race in Bahrain before he was forced to retire when he was on track for a points finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

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After starting the race from seventh place, Ricciardo was able to move up a place on the grid and he hoped his Australian Grand Prix result would help him build momentum as the season prepared to head to Europe.

“After Bahrain, I was obviously still very positive and knew we could make a turnaround,” Ricciardo said..

“I didn’t realise it would happen already, so for that reason I’ll definitely take it.”

“(I’ll) Look over the race, I guess do my homework and try and rehydrate with a few beers tonight.”

But Ricciardo was not planning on settling on mid-field results, and plans to review the data and “do his homework” ahead of the next race in Italy.

“It’s positive, parts of the race we will take some good things out of, and others we will still try and learn a little bit from,” Ricciardo said.

“I am still trying to understand how I can keep extracting more out of myself and the car.

“It was certainly better, I think it’s there, it’s just about operating at the level more consistently, that’s what I will try to clean up.

“There’s parts of my race I can continue to chip away at, the team result was mega compared to the last few.”

Ricciardo goes around in front of a packed crowd at Albert Park. Picture: Getty

Albert Park was decked out in McLaren papaya hats and the support was not lost on the Australian hero after missing his home race for the past two years.

“It’s been nuts, it’s been so good,” Ricciardo said.

“When I got out of the car it was a pretty loud cheer, I was like ‘Man, this is a cheer for sixth’, I couldn’t imagine winning here or even a podium, I’d probably have to keep my ear plugs in.

“I think having missed the race for these last few years, you could see everyone was so keen to have it back, I felt that.

McLaren had hardly fired a shot in the first two races this season, but bounced back to offer plenty of encouragement for the season ahead.

“I didn’t think it would happen by race three, but happy to have showed it here at home,” Ricciardo said.

SMILING ASSASSIN RICCIARDO PLOTS AUSSIE GP SHOCK

Daniel Ricciardo declared he still had more to “exploit” from his McLaren after putting his car in seventh place on the grid for his home Grand Prix in his best qualifying result for the year.

As Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc grabbed pole position for Sunday’s Australian F1 Grand Prix, Ricciardo said he was “quietly confident” of being able to push further up the grid at Albert Park after fulfilling his first target for the weekend.

After a tough start to the season, the Australian star had this week set himself an early goal of reaching the top 10 in qualifying at Albert Park for the first time this year.

And he did it in a drama-packed qualifying session marred by two big crashes in what was an encouraging session for McLaren.

Ricciardo’s teammate Lando Norris will start from the second row of the grid after qualifying fourth behind Leclerc and Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

The eight-time Grand Prix winner said he was overall happy with his qualifying performance and confident he could extract more from the car in the race.

“I think (I’m) generally satisfied, it’s the first Q3 of the year so from that point of view, happy yes,” Ricciardo said.

“I could have been a little better but happy with how it’s been so far. I feel I’m not still trying to catch up from testing, I know what the car is doing now.

Daniel Ricciardo has qualified seventh.

“There is still just a bit, probably just for me to still exploit … I do feel at one with the car for the most part.”

Ricciardo said he was confident of the McLaren’s race pace.

“I hope so, we haven’t really done a proper long run. I don’t know if anyone has,” Ricciardo said.

“But the car feels alright. There are a couple quicker ones (around us on the grid) but Mercedes aren’t their usual selves at the moment so I think we could maybe put up a fight with them.

“We will be alright tomorrow, I’m quietly confident. We’re making some good progress.”

Ricciardo has endured a challenging start to the year, which began when he contracted Covid and was forced to miss the final pre-season test in Bahrain.

Aussie Ricciardo had his best qualifying result for the year.

He finished 14th in Bahrain, just days after getting out of isolation, and was then forced to retire with an engine problem when he was on track for a points finish in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo hoped the flowing Albert Park track would better suit the McLarens in the race, but he conceded their improvement had been swifter than he expected.

“I still don’t know yet how much is track dependant, I do feel this flowing kind of nature probably just suits us at the moment,” Ricciardo said.

“I knew we would get up there at some point, I probably did not think it would be by race three …. But we are making some good progress.

After missing out on the Australian Grand Prix the last two years, Ricciardo said he was lapping up the atmosphere of his home race.

“The crowd is cool,” Ricciardo said.

“Getting into Q3 that would have got everyone a bit excited.

“We’re not aiming extremely high but I hope that got everyone up.