Ricciardo feels Sunday's evening test will complete the picture for McLaren

McLaren's latest recruit Daniel Ricciardo is not entirely impressed with his new ride yet, as he feels he still needs to do some running in the evening sessions under the lights to gain a better perspective. The affable Aussie feels the times are not representative due to the favorable conditions.

Talking about the car. Daniel Ricciardo said, "It's certainly handling itself pretty well at the moment. I think, not to dodge the question, but I need to get one of these evening sessions under my belt because, even though we've been quick on the timesheets, in the day sessions, the track is 40 degrees."

"It's not that representative of what I'm used to around here, so naturally, the car is sliding and moving around (and) it doesn't feel electrifying. But relative to the track, we're obviously doing okay."

Not long until we’re underway. Two more sessions in store, here’s our driver schedule for the day 👇#F1Testing pic.twitter.com/TMIoBKYRkm

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 13, 2021

"So yeah, I think, 24 hours, I'll probably have a better understanding of really how well-balanced it is. But, I think (on) both days, you know, with a 180-degree wind direction change, we've been pretty solid, so there are certainly more positives than not at the moment."

Daniel Ricciardo further added how everything had gone like clockwork without too many glitches, "I think it's all gone pretty smooth. I don't know what could have gone better yet. Faster lap times! But no, generally, I think it's been pretty good."

"We've done most (of the) runs that we planned. I think now, (once) I do the evening session tomorrow...that will just complete the picture."

"Obviously, that's when we race here and qualify, so that will give me, probably, a better understanding of where the limit of the car is in, let's say, more optimal conditions."

Daniel Ricciardo topped the timesheets in the morning session

Behind the scenes on set with our A̶u̶s̶t̶r̶a̶l̶i̶a̶n̶ American driver, @DanielRicciardo? 🎥😂 pic.twitter.com/Uy5WWyJmfn

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 13, 2021

Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren turned up the heat in the morning session as the team topped the timesheets with a competitive time. The Woking-based squad has been more than effective at racking up laps in testing and at the same time, hovering near the top of the standings for most of that time.

McLaren have kept themselves busy by plugging away consistently and racking up the crucial miles that could help them in preparing for the first race of the season.