McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo was pleased to find a more responsive MCL36 on the opening day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix. After two largely uncompetitive weekends in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Ricciardo and teammate Lando Norris finished inside the top 10 at the end of Friday's track time. Ricciardo explained that he felt the team had taken a step forward, particularly on the tyre compound that will be beneficial for the race on Sunday. "I think we found a good step this afternoon, especially in the first part of the session on the Medium - I was pretty happy there," he told media, including RacingNews365.com . "I think, with the Softs, I didn't find as much as I think [we] can. "There's more to come, I think from that tyre. But, driving, I felt like I was getting on the limit today. I don't have a second in my pocket, but, of course, you'll find a little more as the weekend goes on."
Ricciardo finds "confidence" in McLaren car
With Ricciardo in 10th at the end of FP2 - 1.2 seconds down on the pace set by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc - it was actually McLaren who were the quickest of the Mercedes-powered cars. With the MCL36 comparing favourably against the likes of the Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri, and beating the factory Mercedes cars, Ricciardo said he was feeling confident behind the wheel. "Hopefully there's not too much sandbagging going on with the others!" he laughed. "The feeling in the car was good. It's certainly a fun track. Turn 6 was already a fun corner before, but now, it's really quick. It's fun and [you] bounce off the kerb on the exit. It's pretty cool. "Both sessions were top 10 [for us], so hopefully we can keep that going tomorrow. The main thing is I think we have a decent level of confidence in the car."
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