Daniel Ricciardo reacts to impressive first qualifying with McLaren

Daniel Ricciardo was happy to flash his pearly whites after taking another major step in his McLaren journey before the first race of the year.

When is Daniel Ricciardo ever not smiling?

Daniel Ricciardo is feeling pretty pleased after qualifying sixth for the first grand prix of the year — and his first official race with McLaren.

The Aussie driver and his new F1 team made an immediate impact at pre-season testing as the 31-year-old racked up two of the quickest times on the opening two mornings, but the question is whether he can carry that pace into the season proper.

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Ricciardo’s ex-Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen stole the show by qualifying in pole position for Monday’s (AEDT) race, ahead of Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in a sign F1 may finally be witnessing a shake-up of the established world order.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, while Ricciardo slotted in at sixth, one spot ahead of his new stablemate Lando Norris.

The Honey Badger was happy with his first qualifying hit-out of the year and is optimistic it bodes well for the main event.

“It’s a pleasant relief to get the first quali out of the way and get a decent result,” Ricciardo said. “I think, after the test, I was fairly comfortable in the car but probably more so on long runs.

“I still felt that, if anything, my (qualifying on) Saturdays were going to need improving — and I think they still do — but I certainly made a nice step from a couple of weeks ago and I’m happy.

“We’ve got a good platform to build on now, I’m really happy with how we approached it as a team, not putting too much pressure on me. We were a bit off the pace yesterday (in practice), but they could see I was just trying to figure it out.

“I don’t want to do somersaults or backflips just yet, but it’s certainly a nice start for the campaign and I think we’ll do alright tomorrow.

“There’s a mix of cars around us, so I’m looking forward to that, and with Lando alongside hopefully we can get some big points for the team and start the year right.”

Daniel Ricciardo is feeling funky ahead of the year’s first race.

Pipping Norris by one place means Ricciardo has maintained his hot streak of never being out-qualified by a teammate in Bahrain.

The Honey Badger said there is still room for improvement, but he isn’t getting too greedy, knowing he still needs time to adjust to life at McLaren after bailing from a two-season stint at Renault.

“As experienced as I am in F1, the truth is that a new car is a new car,” he said. “I realised quite quickly that you can get to that 95 per cent, but finding that last 5 per cent (from the car) is going to take time.

“I would not say my lap was phenomenal, but let us say for the first qualifying with a new team I am actually really happy with the progress.

“I was pretty slow in Turn 11 most of the session, so I think that was the corner. But it is probably more than actual corners, it is having that confidence in the car that is going to stick, it is going to grip and all of that.”