Woking duo agreed on Alpine's higher pace, but disagreed on McLaren's performance at Paul Ricard; Lando Norris approved the work, while Daniel Ricciardo was dissatisfied
Lando Norris started 5th and crossed the finish line at this Sunday's French GP, won by Max Verstappen in 7th. But the Briton knew that it would be difficult to hold off George Russell, immediately behind. What the McLaren driver perhaps didn't expect was to see Alpine with noticeably higher pace in Paul Ricard - Fernando Alonso, after all, also finished the race ahead, in 6th position.
Still, Norris said he was satisfied with the work done by the MCL36 at Le Castellet. Even with the illusion of catching up with the two-time world champion, the McLaren driver praised the "step forward" made by the Woking team in France.
"I wanted to believe we had the pace to contend with Fernando (Alonso). We raised expectations after yesterday. I'm happy with the work we did. We took a step forward, but not that much - we can learn from it. We had a lot of problems at starts this year, but it didn't affect our race today," Norris acknowledged.
Formula One returns next weekend, July 29-31, at the Hungaroring with the Hungarian Grand Prix, which concludes the first half of the championship.
Ricciardo laments 'defense instead of attack' and says points don't make him "very satisfied
Teammate of Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo agreed with his teammate and also admitted seeing the Alpine better than the McLaren in France. The Australian took the checkered flag in ninth place, the same place where he started - but saw Esteban Ocon, who started behind on the grid, cross the finish line in eighth.
Still according to Ricciardo, the two points scored at Le Castellet are not enough to make him satisfied with his performance in Paul Ricard - the Australian also made his analysis of his own performance at Le Castellet.
"It was ok. We stayed in the points, but it's not enough to make me very satisfied. I was 'holding' the pace. In the middle of the stint, the other (drivers) were managing to maintain speed, and I kind of fell off. I couldn't make full use of the tires and the grip. I don't think I was aggressive with the tires, so it was just a matter of not being able to do what the others did," he pointed out.
"Complicated. I had to defend myself when I actually wanted to attack. I tried to hold off Ocon for as long as possible, but the Alpine was somewhat faster today. I even managed to hold off the Aston Martin at the end, but yeah, I want to be chasing cars - not defending myself from the others," Ricciardo added.