McLaren have confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo will be able to compete alongside Lando Norris in the first grand prix of the season after missing last week’s pre-season testing in Bahrain due to illness that ultimately tested positive for COVID-19 .
The Australian driver remained in Sakhir awaiting a negative result and luckily admitted that he feels physically well, so he should have no major problems getting into the MCL36 again next Friday.
Ricciardo will start at a disadvantage compared to Norris , as the Briton completed three genuine marathons in the last week of testing, with the new McLaren car at his disposal for the eight hours of the last three days of testing.
This has been the statement from the McLaren team in this regard:
“Good morning everyone, please see the following update on Daniel:
McLaren F1 Team confirms that after testing positive for COVID-19 over the past week, Daniel has undergone a series of tests which have come back negative and will therefore be able to return to the paddock on Thursday to compete at the Bahrain Grand Prix. of this weekend.
Daniel has been feeling better each day as he continued to recover. It has also been kept in isolation following local Bahrain regulations.”
McLaren announced last week that young Alpine driver Oscar Piastri had joined its reserve driver pool for this new 2022 Formula 1 season.
The Woking outfit has a similar deal with Mercedes to share its reserve drivers, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries. De Vries is currently available for Bahrain while Vandoorne is at Sebring for the IMSA 12 Hours with Meyer Shank Racing.
However, the team led by Andreas Seidl has not been forced to resort to any of its reserve drivers, since, as we have mentioned before, Daniel Ricciardo is fully prepared to contest the first race of the course in Sakhir. It will be the first time the Australian driver has been on the MCL36 since pre-season testing in Barcelona, which took place in the last week of February.
