Daniel Ricciardo has claimed his storming drive through the field to seventh in the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix is “better late than never.”
The Australian has just two races left on his current deal with McLaren before facing at least a year on the sidelines.
It follows a difficult relationship with the team since joining in 2021 and comes off the back of a particularly disappointing United States Grand Prix a week ago.
“I still know I can [deliver],” Ricciardo said after the race in Mexico.
“It’s hard when you can’t do it week-in, week-out, and it’s a little bit like [Sebastian] Vettel those last few races; he did phenomenal races and then people are questioning ‘is it time to retire?’
“I think all of us can still do it on our day. Obviously it’s just the consistency, for whatever reason, but I still love it and still want to get to the front.”
Starting 11th, Ricciardo slipped two places on the opening lap, improving to 12th with a move on Guanyu Zhou on Lap 9.
He then climbed up the order by way of staying on track while those around him pitted, finally swapping onto the soft tyres on Lap 44.
An attacking race following, Yuki Tsunoda, Lando Norris (who the team moved aside), Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, and Esteban Ocon.
However, Ricciardo’s move on Tsunoda caught the wrath of the stewards, who handed him a 10-second penalty.
“Now I’ve seen a few replays, I mean, I’ll take more of the responsibility but certainly I don’t feel [it’s] 100 to zero in terms of my fault,” he argued.
“I didn’t lock, I stayed on the apex.
“The truth is, I didn’t actually plan or want to overtake him there – of course, I want to overtake him, but I wasn’t set into that corner to outbrake and overtake him.
“All the grip’s on the inside of that corner. It’s very dusty. So I thought I could just stay there, keep him a bit on the dirty line, I’ll get a better exit.
“We probably needed to give each other 20, 30 more centimetres and we were fine, probably not even that.
“So I wish it didn’t happen, and I’m sorry than it happened, but I think 10 seconds was more than enough.”
Such was his pace in the final third of the race, Ricciardo was able to charge through the field and pull far enough clear of Ocon to ensure he maintained seventh even once his penalty was applied post-race.
There were some nervous moments in the final laps, however, as fourth-placed George Russell closed in to lap the McLaren driver.
“I was pretty nervous because George was so close to getting a blue flag for me, and I knew I would lose a couple of seconds with that,” Ricciardo admitted.
“That would have dropped me back into Ocon, so I was pushing like hell just to try and hold that two-second gap.
“Then, when I heard he pitted for fastest, I was like… he probably doesn’t think it or know it, but I’ll buy him a beer anyways!”
The performance led to Ricciardo being voted Driver of the Day by fans, though the 33-year-old isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“I guess better late than never,” he said.
“I’m going to take today for what it is. I’m going to enjoy it, I appreciate that we did have pace and it was awesome and whatever.
“I hope it means that it’ll be like that the next two races, but I don’t, not to be negative, but I don’t even want to look ahead.
“I just want to take today for what it is and hopefully we’ve learned something from it.”
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