Q3 target for McLaren in Australia

If there is one team that is below the expected level this year, it is good McLaren. On an upward slope for two years to the point of imagining it settling at the forefront at the dawn of this new era, the Woking structure has not yet responded and has especially suffered at the start of the season, particularly in Bahrain.

Since then, McLaren has rectified things somewhat with the first points of the year, thanks to the 7^e place of Lando Norris in Saudi Arabia, and seems to see Australia as the Grand Prix of confirmation. Back on his land and for the first time in orange, Daniel Ricciardo in any case wants to believe in a good result for his team in Melbourne.

« I have always had good self-confidence, points the Australian. We could see that we were not competitive at all in Bahrain. A week later in Saudi Arabia we showed a greater level of competitiveness. So it was really about the characteristics of the circuits. I think this route (Albert Park) is closer to that of Saudi Arabia than to that of Bahrain. This will help us in relation to our position at the moment so we must try everything. We will try to qualify in Q3. This would be our first of the year and it's a goal for us."

Step by step

If optimism is present in the ranks of McLaren and in particular among Daniel Ricciardo, perhaps excited by the fact of finding his family, Lando Norris remains measured when discussing the objectives in Australia. The Briton is well aware of the delay of his team compared to those in the leading group.

« We have to wait and see, warns the Englishman who preferred to calm things down. I hope it will be a little more in line with what happened in Saudi Arabia and not Bahrain, because the Saudi weekend was much better. But we have not made any developments or improvements or anything as was already the case in Saudi Arabia. It's just the track difference that showed how good the car can be when it's in a better performance window and how very difficult it is when it's not.

So I hope it's going to be a little more like in Saudi Arabia, especially with the new version of the circuit, it's a little faster and I hope that will work a little in our favor. But I don't expect magical things or the car to suddenly wake up. So it will be a difficult weekend but, of course, we hope to qualify in Q3. There was hope for a double points finish in Saudi Arabia, so hopefully we can make up for it this weekend."

With Albert Park approaching the Jeddah track, McLaren has reason to believe in a good performance during the Australian Grand Prix, starting in qualifying with perhaps the first Q3 of the year!

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