"Don’t put him under pressure" - McLaren's short team orders to Daniel Ricciardo to maintain position behind Lando Norris

McLaren reportedly ordered Daniel Ricciardo not to attempt a move on teammate Lando Norris at the 2022 F1 Australian Grand Prix. The act was reminiscent of Monza in 2021, where Norris was on the receiving end of such orders against the Aussie, who was leading the race.

The team reportedly ordered Ricciardo on the team radio, stating:

“Don’t put him under pressure. Daniel, we’re managing something on Lando’s car. It’s OK to close the gap — but don’t put him under pressure. This is the last lap. Don’t get too close to Lando, he may lose power.”

Ricciardo replied, asking:

“If he loses power, what do I do?”

Responding to his question, the engineer said:

“Oh, drive past! I just don’t want you to hit him.”

In a post-race interaction, Daniel Ricciardo revealed that he was not the happiest to hold his position given the issues with Norris' car. The Australian driver, however, was certainly satisfied with the decent team result. He said:

“Looked like a bit of a photo finish, I was told Lando [Norris] had a few issues towards the end. Obviously he slowed down quite a lot so the team said, uhh... be sensible. I had to control myself a little bit but of course a fifth and a sixth is a massive result for us so far this year. If you would’ve said this in Bahrain I probably would’ve laughed sarcastically, so very happy with this progress.”

While Ricciardo has achieved his best finish of the season so far at the Albert Park Circuit, he would have certainly preferred to further close the points gap to Norris today.

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"Team result was mega" – Daniel Ricciardo on the Australian GP

It was not easy for Daniel Ricciardo to stay in sixth when he had the pace to push himself up to fifth in front of his home crowd at Albert Park. The driver, however, is pleased with how the result contributed to the team's championship points.

As reported by ESPN, he emphasized that despite the struggles from the beginning of the year, today was a good result for the team overall. He said:

“After Bahrain I was still very positive and I knew we could make a turnaround. For that reason, I’ll definitely take it. As a whole, it was certainly better. Team result was mega compared to the last few.”

A double-points finish for the team has put them up to fourth place in the constructors' standings, ahead of midfield rivals Alpine.