“That was certainly where I have to swallow my pride”– Daniel Ricciardo on team orders in favour of Lando Norris

“That was certainly where I have to swallow my pride”– Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t match up to the performance of his teammate Lando Norris.

Lando Norris had an exceptional day in Imola, but he started behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Early in the race, the Australian received a team order to let Norris go ahead.

The Briton was obviously at the point was faster than Ricciardo, but from there, he further jumped positions and came third. Meanwhile, Ricciardo sees it as a defeat and had to take it on his chin.

“That was certainly where I have to swallow my pride and show my pace,” explained Ricciardo to Sky Sports. “Then times I could show my pace but then killed the front, but they gave me enough time to show my pace.”

Nevertheless, Ricciardo managed to bring in decent points from his P6 finish, taking his team to 41 points in total, maintaining their 3rd position in the grid.

It could have resulted in an early finish for McLaren

Whilst Ricciardo had to swallow his pride, Norris revealed how the hazardous track conditions from the rain risked an ear;y exit for Mclaren from the race.

“Of course I am; you can never be disappointed with a podium. We recovered well from yesterday. It was a tough race and a lot of risky moments. I almost crashed into Daniel at the start. A lot of decision but the right decisions.”

From here, both McLarens persevered and went onto climb positions. While the chaos disturbed Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton crossed both of them to his road to recovery.

In the end, it was a decent result for McLaren, and a podium is never bad. But Ferrari is soon catching them up, as Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc managed to split the two Woking-based team’s cars and are now just seven points away.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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