Formula 1 made a welcome return to Austin this weekend for the United States Grand Prix and it was a good day for McLaren F1 Team, which saw them move closer towards BWT Alpine F1 Team in the Constructors Championship.
Lando Norris’ drive was simply remarkable with the British driver losing out on the pit stops and the safety car calls throughout the race. He also took damage driving through the debris of the crash between Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, which made driving a lot more difficult. But despite having no luck, he managed to get his McLaren into sixth place.
He was picking off other midfield cars with ease and outscored his Alpine rivals, Alonso and Esteban Ocon making it an extremely successful weekend for both him and the team.
“A good race! Races like these are more enjoyable compared to just being on your own, even though it’s a lot tougher. It was very enjoyable, especially the race with Fernando.
“I had a tricky start, getting caught behind an incident ahead. We also picked up damage halfway through the race, so I’m very happy to have finished P6 today. We came away with the best result possible and picked up some decent points.”
Daniel Ricciardo – “Days like this are pretty painful”
It was a disappointing weekend for Daniel Ricciardo with his McLaren career coming to a painful end.
Ricciardo struggled to hook the car up in qualifying meaning he was knocked out in Q1 for the third time in five races. The Australian then struggled again to make an impact on the race due to a lack of pace. It was a shame for Ricciardo, who has always described Austin as one of his favourite races on the calendar.
“I hoped today was going to be better. I really thought after yesterday we had a bit more to show but it was really tough today. I could tell from early on in the race that it was going to be tricky.
“We unfortunately just didn’t have the grip. I couldn’t really push the car like I could see the others around me doing, so it was just a struggle.
Ricciardo spoke of the pain of the weekend and is disappointed with the outcome after all the effort put in by the team.
“We’ll keep our chin up and try to find a way. Obviously, days like this are pretty painful to try to deal with and understand as we put a lot of effort in but didn’t get rewarded. We’ll keep going.”
Credit: Glenn Dunbar