Daniel Ricciardo was unable to take part in the final Formula 1 pre-season tests in 2022 after testing positive for COVID-19 , but received permission from the authorities a week later to take part in the Bahrain Grand Prix that opened the course.
In Sakhir, first in the tests and then in the race weekend, his team, McLaren, suffered serious problems of overheating in the brakes and, although they made titanic efforts looking for a momentary solution for the first grand prix of the course, their results They ended up being disastrous.
In qualifying Ricciardo did not even get to Q2, something that Norris did, however, in the race the Australian driver turned the tables and finished 14th, just ahead of his teammate.
Both finished outside the points and, what is even worse, with disastrous feelings. The Australian, in addition to suffering driving an MCL36 lacking in aerodynamics and with many other problems, recognized after the race that it had also been a challenge to fight the consequences of COVID-19 on the track.
“I would be lying if I said I feel great. I still feel the effects of the disease, the consequences of COVID-19. Physically, the race was not the easiest of my career.”
“I feel like I’m not ready to perform at my best yet. It’s great that we managed to finish, but I hope it will get easier in the next few weeks.”
“However, our results have nothing to do with my condition. We’re just not fast enough, that’s the key. Just look at Lando [Norris] , who was a great reference throughout last year. I studied his lap in Q2 and it was a very impressive lap, but it was only good for 13th, that shows our real speed.”
“Probably, if I had been able to participate in the tests, my result would have been a bit better. But Lando squeezed the car, he definitely didn’t have another extra second in his pocket.”
“Perhaps in other circuits we can have a better performance,” he concluded.
The next race of the 2022 Formula 1 season will take place in Jeddah, an urban circuit that debuted last year and is the venue for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which will take place next weekend, from March 25 to 27. , with a very short margin of time compared to the Bahrain GP, which will surely not allow McLaren to make great improvements.
