Ricciardo: 'At some tracks we can beat Red Bull and Mercedes'

Daniel Ricciardo had a difficult first half of the season, but the Australian has now scored his first victory in the service of McLaren. The Australian is enjoying driving the MCL35M and knows that the gap to Red Bull Racing and Mercedes is not nearly as big as it used to be.

"We’ve definitely been looking like [fighting Mercedes and Red Bull] certainly more often in the last few weeks", Ricciardo is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. The potential of McLaren's car is becoming increasingly apparent. “I think Lando has been there pretty much all year, and it’s starting to look more promising for me as well."

McLaren dependent on circuit

In the constructors' championship, McLaren is currently 17.5 points ahead of Ferrari. The difference with the two teams at the top is immense, but Ricciardo knows: "I think it’s still a little track-dependent for us as a team. I don’t think we’re universally strong across the board, at every track layout we go to. The ones that we’re strong on, we seem to be able to really take it to the top two teams.”

In Russia, for example, Norris showed that the McLaren is very competitive even when it's dry. Thanks to the Mercedes engine at the back of the car, the McLaren is not easy to overtake and in the second half of the season we've seen both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen struggle with that on several occasions.