Daniel Ricciardo says there is “lots to learn” from his McLaren Formula 1 debut and believes finishing seventh “on a bad day” shows the long-term potential.
Ricciardo qualified in sixth spot at the Bahrain Grand Prix but lost out to McLaren team-mate Lando Norris early on.
Ricciardo gained a position at the expense of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly but relinquished one place when he was overhauled by the recovering Sergio Perez.
“It was a difficult race actually – not difficult, a little bit boring at times,” said Ricciardo.
“But just difficult that every time I tried to push, I heard the lap times of the cars in front, and every time I tried to do it, maybe I could do it once but then I would lose a lot of time the next lap.
“For sure lots of things I can feedback to the team, and I’m sure lots that I can learn from as well.
“But if this is a bad result or a bad day, seventh, I think we are okay. It is a good place to start from so I will keep learning and getting better.”
Ricciardo nonetheless feels he is ahead of where he was compared to the attitude after his first event with Renault back in 2019.
“It certainly takes some time,” he said. “I remember the second race of 2019 was here in Bahrain, and I remember that at the end of the race I felt probably not as good as now, but I certainly was still scratching my head a little bit.
“I hadn’t quite really figured out the car yet and what worked for it. I think by race three, it was China, I was a little bit better and a bit more comfortable.
“So I think already for race one I do not feel too bad but for sure the race was not at the level I believe I am at. So we will just keep chipping away at it.”
