Ricciardo's team 'spooked' by pre-season testing

Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren outfit may have been hiding its true pace at this month's pre-season test, with some believing the team could even be faster than Mercedes.

That's the view of Sky Sports pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz, who says Ricciardo's comparative lack of pace on the final day is nothing to be concerned about.

Instead, the Australian, and teammate Lando Norris, may have been playing games and disguising the full potential of the car.

McLaren caught the F1 paddock by surprise by unveiling a radical diffusor, designed to claw back some of the rear downforce that had been lost due to regulation changes.

The team admitted they were surprised no other car had the same design, with former Jordan and Stewart designer Gary Anderson noting that under his reading of the regulations, McLaren's solution was "completely legal, and there's no trickery or loophole involved."

Speaking on the Australian Grand Prix's In the Fast Lane podcast, Kravitz said McLaren is definitely a team to watch in 2021.

"It was weird at the test actually, McLaren, they had a very good day one in the dusty conditions and then they had a good day two," he said.

"And then they went all sort of coy and they thought, 'Oh my goodness, we better not show everything.'

"Looking at the times (on day three) Ricciardo only had the seventh fastest (time), and Norris was even further down."

Many column inches are devoted each year to discussing which teams are 'sandbagging' in testing, in order not to reveal their full potential, but Kravitz says there's a genuine belief McLaren have taken a big leap forward.

Indeed, the official Formula One website, in its wrap of pre-season testing, put McLaren on a par with Mercedes for short-run pace. 

"It's like … they spooked themselves and they didn't want to give anything away so they stopped setting quick times to put everybody off the scent. But they were very happy," Kravitz said.

"Everything is looking optimal in the new McLaren. There was some doubts about whether they will be even quicker than the factory Mercedes team themselves. Some people have got McLaren as second, behind Red Bull."

Having ditched Renault (now Alpine) after two largely fruitless seasons, Ricciardo could be headed back to the front of the grid sooner than expected. A move that was seen as sideways at best when he signed nearly 12 months ago is looking better by the day, with Alpine hardly setting the world on fire in testing.

"Whenever I think of what happened with Danny Ric and Renault, I think (of) Christian Horner's slightly cheeky assessment of how Renault were going Grand Prix racing, which (was) that they want to fly first class on an economy ticket," Kravitz explained.

"It's kind of been borne out in the transition to Alpine …. Renault weren't going to pay the money anymore, but they thought it might be worth it to keep going just to plug the Alpine brand."

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