McLaren investigation reveals floor damage for Ricciardo in Bahrain F1 opener

McLaren has revealed Daniel Ricciardo sustained floor damage after his contact with Pierre Gasly during the season-opening Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

As the pair battled for position through Turns 4 and 5, Gasly hit Ricciardo’s McLaren, ripping the front wing off from his AlphaTauri.

At the time, the Australian’s car looked unharmed as he went onto finish seventh in his first race for McLaren.

It was solid points on the board for Ricciardo in his first outing for McLaren, although he did finish over 20 seconds behind teammate Lando Norris.

Following a post-race inspection of the cars, McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl confirmed Riccardo’s lack of pace during the race was due to a loss of downforce as a result of his damaged floor following contact with Gasly.

“Post-race we found damage to Daniel’s floor from the impact of Pierre running into the back of his car at the beginning of the race,'' Seidl said.

“The level of damage cost a considerable amount of downforce. Despite the performance loss Daniel used his experience to cope with the issues and score important points for the team. We look forward to the next race.”

Speaking in Bahrain after the race, Ricciardo was content with scoring points on his first outing for the team but acknowledged there's still areas to improve on if he is to get on level terms with his teammate.

“It was definitely a learning one,” Ricciardo said. ”It is certainly positive to finish the race not only in the points but just to do the laps. There were definitely moments in the race where I made some mental notes, and will give the team as much feedback as I can. 

“I am sure as well there is a lot for me to learn and to figure out where I was losing the time, so certainly things in the car which I am sure can be better. But I will be very open minded and I am sure I am not doing everything perfect. 

“Both sides can keep getting better. The positive is that Lando was fourth, and had strong race pace. So we actually have a pretty good situation to work from now.”