RICCIARDO LEAVES MELBOURNE IN GOOD SPIRITS

Despite scoring his first points of the season at home in the Australian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo admitted post-race that more was possible as his teammate had a problem late on.

Ricciardo was just behind his teammate Lando Norris in the second half of the race and really cut the gap in the closing laps of the race.

However, Ricciardo revealed post-race that Norris suffered an issue late on, nevertheless this did not dampen the spirits of the team which scored its first double points of the season.

“It looked like a bit of a photo finish,” he said. “I was told Lando had a few issues towards the end.

“Obviously he slowed down quite a lot, so the team said… be sensible. So I had to control myself a little bit.”

The West Australian born racer explained that after the tough start to the season in Bahrain – a round in which both drivers finished outside of the points on legitimate pace – just three weeks ago the turnaround in performance has been electric, even catching Ricciardo by surprise.

“After the first two weekends I was still quite upbeat and positive and everyone was like why are you so happy right now, but I know it can turn around so quickly in this sport,”

“With the rule changes we’re still trying to get on top of the car and no one really knows all there is to know about it.

“I was aware that we could have a weekend like this. Maybe not this soon, but soon enough, and happy that we were able to do it here and just keep chipping at it, obviously there’s still things I can get better at but all good.

“A fifth and a sixth is a massive result obviously for us so far this year. If you would have said this in Bahrain, I probably would have laughed sarcastically, so very happy with his progress. “

Ricciardo believes the pace on the mediums was very strong, however in the second stint on the hards was unable to touch the two Mercedes drivers of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

“I think the first part of the race was positive but there is still a bit to work on,” he said. “Probably in that second stint I lost a little bit of pace on the Hard tyre.

“It came back to me a little bit – but we still have a bit of understanding to do. I’ll keep working at it but generally, as a whole, the weekend’s been smooth.”

The smiling Aussie concluded by saying how satisfied he is to leave Australia with a good result.

“I’m happy to walk away with my first points of the year at home, which is also nice for the all the fans who came out here, so I’m feeling pretty content,” he said.

“We leave Melbourne in good spirits, which feels nice as it’s probably been four years since I left here in good spirits.”

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