‘I was in the fight, which hasn’t been often this year’: Ricciardo’s Mexican GP transcript

The Mexican Grand Prix was a rare bright spot in an otherwise forgettable 2022 campaign for Daniel Ricciardo.

The McLaren driver is marking time until the end of the season following the announcement he will not return to the team again in 2023 as planned.

He qualified outside the top 10 again in Mexico, but on race day tyre strategy fell in his favour. Despite being penalised for a tangle with Yuki Tsunoda, he picked up a badly-needed points finish for McLaren, which moved them closer to rivals Alpine in the constructors championship.

Ricciardo freely admitted afterwards he had been able to jump ahead of team mate Lando Norris thanks to a mid-race change in strategy. Both drivers started the race on the medium rubber, but after Norris pitted for the hard tyres, McLaren realised the soft tyres would work for the second stint, and Ricciardo took a set of those.

While he dismissed Norris’ claim that the strategy was worth as much as 40 seconds, Ricciardo acknowledged he benefited from pitting later and choosing a different compound.

“If it was 40 seconds, everyone would have done it,” said Ricciardo. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was the better strategy, there’s no doubt. But it was in our plan, if the tyre was lasting, keep going and try to attack at the end. And that’s what we did.”

Daniel Ricciardo’s 2022 Mexican Grand Prix team radio messages

Ricciardo was involved in a first-corner collision at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez 12 months earlier. This time he was more cautious, but lost two places on the opening lap, as Yuki Tsunoda starting strongly immediately behind him and Zhou Guanyu found a way past too.

Lap: 1 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’33.983
Stallard	Brake bal forwards two clicks.
Lap: 2 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’25.959
Stallard	Brakes still coming in so just no lift-and-coast turn one and turn four. Consider orange torque three.
Stallard	Okay. Brakes are good. Strat seven. Strat seven.
Lap: 3 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’26.170
Stallard	DRS enabled.
Lap: 4 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’25.498
Stallard	Vettel 0.6, Daniel PU starting to get hot, pull to the left where you can.
Lap: 5 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’24.721
Stallard	Gap to Vettel 0.6. Overtake available. Vettel has also been told lift-and-coast for temperatures.
Lap: 6 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’24.629
Stallard	Gap to Vettel 0.9. Daniel, turn four is the hottest place for PU, lift into T4 will help if you’re not fighting Zhou.
Lap: 7 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’25.571

While McLaren were concerned about managing the rising temperatures in his car, Ricciardo was trying to regain his place from Zhou, which he eventually managed.

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Lap: 8 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’25.076
Stallard	Vettel 0.7. Daniel, the lift into turn four helps a lot. I appreciate you need to fight with Zhou but when you’re not fighting the lift into turn four helps a lot.
Lap: 9 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.528
Stallard	Okay you can use overtake out of three as well. You can use overtake out of three. Let me know about tyres if you can.
Ricciardo	Yeah all good. I’ve got him this time.
Stallard	Lift off in turn four…
Ricciardo	…now in clear air.
Stallard	Copy, next car Tsunoda.
Ricciardo	I’ll just try and let temps settle a bit.
Stallard	Copy.
Stallard	Zhou 0.7, you can use overtake final corner.

Getting past Zhou was important, as Ricciardo was able to put five seconds on the Alfa Romeo before his pit stop.

“The one thing that kept me a little optimistic was I was quicker than Zhou and I feel like the Alfas had been quick all weekend,” he said afterwards. “So I was losing time with him but eventually when I passed him I thought, ‘okay, maybe we’re we’re still in this race’.”

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Lap: 10 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.666
Stallard	Zhou 0.8.
Ricciardo	Understood. I had a bit of a power surge out of 12.
Stallard	Copy
Lap: 11 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.770
Stallard	Tsunoda last lap 24.9. Gap is 2.2. Zhou is 0.9, still just in DRS.
Ricciardo	Relatively stable at the moment, low grip but fairly stable.
Lap: 12 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.745
Stallard	Zhou 0.9. Daniel you’ve been doing fuel five, fuel three would be okay.
Ricciardo	Understood.
Stallard	Suggest orange torque four for rears.
Lap: 13 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.321
Stallard	Zhou 0.9.
Stallard	Alonso’s P7. His last lap 24.7.
Lap: 14 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.495
Stallard	Zhou 1.1.

At this stage in the race McLaren were still on ‘plan A’ for Ricciardo, indicating they planned to pit for the hard tyre compound. He indicated he preferred that strategy.

Ricciardo was also concerned with trying to improve his car’s braking performance, which has been a recurring theme since his joined the team last year.

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Lap: 15 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.664
Stallard	Okay Tsunoda 1.5 seconds ahead is on soft.
Ricciardo	Understood. This is more or less my pace at the moment.
Stallard	Pace is good.
Stallard	Daniel we think plan A target lap at the moment, plan A.
Ricciardo	Understood, I’ll keep you posted.
Lap: 16 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.713
Lap: 17 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.675
Lap: 18 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.886
Ricciardo	What they’re doing.
Stallard	Alonso 24.3. So Alonso is 8.9 seconds ahead of you, Bottas is behind him.
Lap: 19 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.787
Ricciardo	Struggling a bit more with the front last few laps.
Stallard	Copy.
Ricciardo	Do you think there’s margin for the brake two? Shape two.
Stallard	There’s margin for shape two if you also put orange torque four. Shape two, torque four.
Ricciardo	Okay. Think I need the torque.
Lap: 20 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.687
Stallard	Consider brake balance plus one and shape two. Brake balance plus one and shape two, to protect the rears at the bite. Alonso 24.2.
Lap: 21 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.649
Stallard	Daniel do you think we’re more like plan B or plan A.
Ricciardo	More like plan A.
Stallard	Copy.
Lap: 22 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.730
Stallard	Could be an opportunity, minimum speed turn 11.
Ricciardo	Last lap you matched Ocon and Lando, three tenths faster than Tsunoda. Cars on softs starting to see graining, front-left.
Lap: 23 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.559
Ricciardo	Opportunity turn 13 slightly earlier braking to set the corner up more.
Lap: 24 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.922
Stallard	Daniel front-left caliper is warm but within limits. If you pull slightly left to cool… Correction, front-right caliper is warm but within limits. If you pull slightly right to cool front-right caliper you’ll have more margin to attack Tsunoda.
Lap: 25 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.823
Ricciardo	What was the gap at the DRS line? Felt like I was close.
Stallard	1.3. 1.3.
Lap: 26 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.789
Stallard	Tsunoda 1.1, consider top-left toggle turns seven to 10 to help rotation.
Ricciardo	Roger.
Lap: 27 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.530
Stallard	Tsunoda 1.1.
Lap: 28 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’24.886

The first front runners to pit were those who, unlike the McLaren drivers, started on the soft compounds. The Mercedes drivers had started on mediums and opted for hards when they came in.

McLaren appeared to be encouraged by what they saw of Lewis Hamilton’s initial sector times on hards, and swiftly brought Norris in. Meanwhile Ricciardo was told to push in anticipation of his pit stop.

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Lap: 29 Position: 10 Lap time: 1’24.919
Stallard	The Ferrari just pitted, Leclerc should be just behind you.
Lap: 30 Position: 10 Lap time: 1’24.744
Stallard	Okay we see Tsunoda’s pitted, Daniel. The car behind is Leclerc, we just don’t want to lose time with Leclerc.
Stallard	Hamilton has just pitted for a hard, I’ll let you know how he gets on.
Stallard	Okay. Leclerc 0.5. Hamilton was green in sector three on his out-lap on hard.
Lap: 31 Position: 11 Lap time: 1’25.432
Ricciardo	Okay.
Stallard	Blue harvest five, blue harvest five. Lando’s just pitted. He’s going to try the hard. After Tsunoda Zhou is still the car behind, 4.6 seconds behind. See what we can get out of this tyre now, DR.

Ricciardo was within four seconds of his team mate when Norris pitted, which gave him encouragement. “I could see Lando and the guys, they were certainly, some laps, quicker,” he recalled. “But then I would reel them back. So I felt I was still in the fight, which hasn’t been very often this year.

“So I was kind of just doing my pace and once I saw they pitted, I wasn’t really that tempted to follow them because it just puts me in that race and I’m just behind them.”

Lap: 32 Position: 10 Lap time: 1’24.527
Stallard	Suggest red mid four. Rid mid four.
Lap: 33 Position: 10 Lap time: 1’24.526
Stallard	Ocon last lap 24.3, he’s still out. Alonso and Bottas also still out, 23.9.
Stallard	Ocon is about to be passed by Sainz so that will cost him time. He is nine seconds ahead.

While Norris couldn’t ‘switch on’ the hards immediately, McLaren were intrigued to note Vettel had started the race on a set of soft tyres and was still going strong. They began to think about switching Ricciardo to softs instead – ‘plan C’.

Ricciardo was open to the idea. “Tom kept asking me how much longer I could go. I said, even though my pace might not be the fastest car on the track, I felt like we can keep stretching it.

“I think Vettel was still on a soft doing well, so that gave me some confidence that tyre would work. And it was certainly a good strategy.”

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Lap: 34 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’24.473
Stallard	Ocon has pitted. Let’s have strat 11, more pace.
Stallard	Ocon pitted for hard. Silver entry five, silver entry five. DR temperatures are under control at the moment. We’re just looking for a good pace on the rest of this tyre.
Stallard	So Daniel, this pace is still decent. Feedback from the other car, hard tyre took-one-and-a-half laps to come in. They were careful braking for turn one, difficult rears for one-and-a-half-laps, now it’s okay.
Lap: 35 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’24.297
Ricciardo	Understood. This is a relatively stable.
Stallard	Lando last lap 24.2.
Lap: 36 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’24.408
Stallard	Vettel is still out on soft, we are considering plan C. It would be plan C target minus five to 10. Any thoughts?
Ricciardo	Yep, understood, happy.
Lap: 37 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’24.328
Stallard	Pace is still good. Zhou now 5.6 behind, Lando last lap 24.0.
Stallard	And Tsunoda last lap 24.0 as well.
Lap: 38 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’24.435
Stallard	This pace is good Daniel. This pace is good.
Stallard	We are in the window, Safety Car and VSC, we are in the window.
Lap: 39 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’24.631
Lap: 40 Position: 8 Lap time: 1’24.537
Lap: 41 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’24.508
Stallard	Alonso just pitted for hard he’s going to be five seconds behind you.
Ricciardo	Understood.
Lap: 42 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’24.986

By lap 41 Ricciardo was losing well over half a second per lap compared to Norris, and McLaren decided it was time to bring him in.

Lap: 43 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’24.601
Stallard	Daniel, how’s the tyre?
Ricciardo	Dropped off a bit that last lap but it’s still relatively okay.
Stallard	So, Daniel, we’re plan C, plan C.
Ricciardo	Understood.
Lap: 44 Position: 8 Lap time: 1’27.285
Stallard	Okay. Daniel, we’re box this lap. Box this lap, end of this lap. Use the tyre now.
Ricciardo	Understood. Plan C, correct?
Stallard	Plan C.
Stallard	Okay big left turn 12 for PU temperatures at the stop.
Stallard	Box this lap. box this lap.
Ricciardo	Confirm, box.
Lap: 45 Position: 13 Lap time: 1’42.369
Ricciardo	Daniel pit lane.
Stallard	Launch map, launch map. Top-left toggle for front locking protection turn one.
Stallard	Okay you’re out just ahead of Hamilton and Perez. Hamilton is four seconds behind.
Ricciardo	What time is everyone doing?
Lap: 46 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’22.232
Stallard	23.7 is a good reference, 23.7.
Ricciardo	Okay.
Stallard	Vettel behind on medium, 23.2, Vettel is eight seconds behind.
Stallard	And limit on this time will be front-left graining. Managed the tyre turn six and turn 10. Tsunoda ahead 23.7.

Ricciardo was immediately happy with the decision to take the soft rubber. “As soon as I got out the pits, the tyre was so much better,” he said. “I could lean on it and I felt like I was in control.

“So I was like, let’s just use this to see what it is, see what it’s got. And then it stayed relatively consistent. So I kind of pushed really hard and just tried to manage it and it was still giving me a lot more pace.”

Lap: 47 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’22.220
Stallard	This pace is good, Daniel, this place is excellent.
Lap: 48 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’22.022
Stallard	Okay gap to Tsunoda 2.4, there are 23 laps to go.
Lap: 49 Position: 12 Lap time: 1’23.189
Stallard	Tsunoda 1.05.

He quickly caught Tsunoda, who had started on softs and switched to mediums 15 laps before Ricciardo pitted. The McLaren was much quicker, but when Ricciardo took a half-look up the inside of the AlphaTauri at turn sixt, the pair made contact, leaving his rival with race-ending bodywork damage.

There was little discussion of the collision on the radio besides the team noting Ricciardo’s car had emerged unscathed.

Lap: 50 Position: 11 Lap time: 1’26.383
Stallard	Overtake available.
Stallard	Daniel we have a blue flag for Hamilton. We have a blue flag for Hamilton.
Stallard	And Perez is now the car behind, blue flag for Perez.
Stallard	Tyre pressures okay so far, tyre pressures okay.
Ricciardo	Yeah car’s fine, car’s fine. Is there more blue flags behind Perez?
Lap: 51 Position: 11 Lap time: 1’24.887
Stallard	No you’re okay now, you’re okay for a bit.
Stallard	So Perez has been doing 23.1. Let’s go with him.
Lap: 52 Position: 11 Lap time: 1’22.817
Stallard	Ocon 10 is seconds ahead. He should take these two blue flags Hamilton and Perez. Ocon last lap to 23.5.
Lap: 53 Position: 11 Lap time: 1’22.722

The stewards swiftly handed down a 10-second time penalty for a move they viewed as “too late and too optimistic”. But McLaren, realising how strong Ricciardo’s pace was, told him it made no difference to their strategy.

Lap: 54 Position: 11 Lap time: 1’22.836
Stallard	Daniel, we’ve been given a 10-second penalty for that collision, we’ve been given a 10-second penalty.
Stallard	The car behind is Latifi, just left the pits a lap down.
Stallard	Daniel, the plan is still the same. Getting 10 seconds ahead of these cars is not impossible. Keep following Perez. We can do this.
Stallard	Lando’s just let Hamilton through.

Ricciardo was unhappy with the penalty. He’d been penalised for a collision with Carlos Sainz Jnr at Imola earlier in the year, but on that occasion felt he’d made a mistake.

But he kept his counsel on the radio. “I figured they probably had to do something,” he said afterwards. “But also it’s so hard when you’re in the heat of battle.

“I didn’t remember locking [up] like with Carlos in Imola, turn one, I went off the apex and slid into him. It didn’t feel like that. I was going to come on the radio and vent a little, but I chose to say nothing, I went pretty dark and then just decided to keep pushing and try to make up for it.”

Ricciardo’s frustration was no doubt soothed by picking up a position from his team mate, who was told to let him by. “Daniel is the car behind Perez,” Will Joseph advised Norris, “he will be quicker than you, let him go, he has a 10-second penalty.”

Lap: 55 Position: 10 Lap time: 1’22.859
Stallard	Let’s go get Bottas, Daniel.
Stallard	Bottas has blue flags now.
Lap: 56 Position: 10 Lap time: 1’23.428

Ricciardo picked up another place from Bottas and closed on the two Alpines – McLaren’s main championship rivals. As he closed on them, Alonso’s car developed an engine problem and he was an easy target. Ricciardo also took Ocon for seventh.

Lap: 57 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’22.616
Stallard	Good job, Daniel. Now, let’s keep pulling away from him, keep pulling away. He’s going to take a blue flag from Russell, that will increase the gap.
Stallard	Ocon is six seconds ahead. He’ll take the blue flags shortly.
Lap: 58 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’23.016
Stallard	Bottas is taking a blue flag right behind you now. Alonso is slow on the straight, he’s lost battery. Alonso is seven seconds ahead.
Ricciardo	Understood.
Stallard	Ocon has blue flags.
Lap: 59 Position: 9 Lap time: 1’23.458
Stallard	Okay gap to Bottas is already 5.5. Let’s keep pulling on him. We can get Ocon.
Ricciardo	Understood.
Lap: 60 Position: 8 Lap time: 1’24.437

With his superior pace, Ricciardo now had to pull out a 10-second lead over Ocon to negate the effect of his post-race penalty. But he was at risk of being lapped by George Russell, who was closing in behind.

“In the last few laps 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 and that would have dropped me back into Ocon,” said Ricciardo. “So I was pushing like hell just to try and hold that two-second gap.”

To Ricciardo’s relief, Russell made an extra pit stop to fit a fresh set of tyres in a bid to set the fastest lap and take a bonus point. That meant Ricciardo did not have to slow for blue flags, saving him precious seconds. “I’ll buy him a beer,” Ricciardo joked after the race.

Lap: 61 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’22.804
Stallard	Okay we want to keep the gap on, Russell, Daniel, keep the gap on Russell. Russell last lap, 23.4.
Stallard	Use more [lift and coast] turn 12.
Lap: 62 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’22.740
Stallard	Okay Bottas 6.3. If you can stay ahead from Russell this is do-able. Nine to go.
Ricciardo	Just tell Russell George to stay behind. That’ll help.
Stallard	PU temperatures are good now.
Lap: 63 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’22.735
Stallard	Considered torque four to protect the rears, your call.
Ricciardo	Is my time to George good?
Stallard	22.7. Bottas 24.1 gap is 8.0.

Ricciardo’s effort to build up a lead was briefly interrupted when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed in reaction to Alonso’s retirement. It did not last long, however, to the disappointment of Norris, who was lobbying McLaren to use the opportunity to pit him for a set of softs.

Lap: 64 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’36.245
Stallard	Okay Bottas 9.3, Alonso 8.1, Ocon 5.8. This is good Daniel. Russell 1.7 behind.
Stallard	Virtual Safety Car. Virtual Safety Car. Delta positive. Daniel, recharge on.
Stallard	So drive to the delta. DR cool the car where you can. Remember to avoid polishing brakes. So this yellow flag is for Alonso stopped at turn one. Ocon is currently 12 seconds behind. Lando 14, Bottas 17.
Lap: 65 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’26.779
Stallard	They’re moving the car now. This could end soon. VSC ending, recharge off. Recharge off.
Stallard	Ocon seven seconds, Ocon seven seconds.

Over the final laps Ricciardo pulled out the gap he needed over Ocon, thanks in part to Russell pitting.

Lap: 66 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’22.662
Stallard	Five laps to go Russell 2.5, Ocon 7.5.
Lap: 67 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’22.667
Stallard	Okay all temperatures are good. Russell 2.2. Ocon 8.6. Daniel, lift-and-coast only for tyres.
Ricciardo	Understood.
Lap: 68 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’22.801
Ricciardo	What time did Russell just do?
Stallard	Russell 22 five. Gap is 2.0, Ocon 9.6. Three to go.
Lap: 69 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’22.955
Stallard	Strat nine, strat nine. Russell 2.1, Ocon 10.5. Russell pit lane.
Stallard	Ocon last lap, 23.8. Ocon last lap 23.8.
Ricciardo	Okay. Yeah, that was my question.
Stallard	Gap 10.8.

He took the chequered flag inside the points-paying positions for only the sixth time this year.

Lap: 70 Position: 7 Lap time: 1’23.318
Stallard	Ocon 11.2, this is the last lap, 11.4.
Stallard	Ocon 11.7.
Finishing position: 7
Stallard	Well done, Daniel. Well done. Ocon 12.1. Good job, buddy. Good job. P7. We need to cool the car on the in-lap. So high speed and big lift-offs please. Priority on cooling. Fuel’s fine.
Ricciardo	Okay, understood. Alrighty, that was fun.
Stallard	Yeah great work, mate. Great work, racing the top cars at the end. That was good. And made up for the penalty. Just drive faster, right?
Ricciardo	Yep. Alrighty, cool beans.
Stallard	Yeah. Really good job. So finishing order was Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Russell, Sainz. Leclerc, yourself, Ocon, Lando, Bottas.
Ricciardo	So obviously good call on strategy. Very good call, thank you.
Stallard	Just take care through 13,14 in case there’s people there for the podium stuff. We’re coming back to the pit lane, even though it feels like you deserve more. Well done buddy, that’s really good.
Stallard	Nice DR. Big fan of your work. You need to turn the car fully off, so kill the engine, wait five seconds, then kill it, turn fully off. Hopefully there’ll be some guys to put calliper fans in.

Not only did the result come as a relief to Ricciardo, he was pleased to have had a rare race in which he felt he could attack. “Even the points finishes, even probably last year, I feel we were normally defending than attacking,” he said. “So just to have an attacking race, especially for me with this car, to feel like I can attack a little bit more with it, it’s just a nice feeling.”

However with just two races left as a McLaren driver, Ricciardo isn’t getting carried away about his future chances on the basis of a single strong race.

“I guess better late than never,” he said on Sunday evening in Mexico City. “I’m going to take today for what it is. I’m going to enjoy it and appreciate that we did our 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 want 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 learnt something from it.”

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