Daniel Ricciardo feels McLaren 'are kind of there' when it comes to battling Alpine at Abu Dhabi

Daniel Ricciardo seems confident about McLaren's battle with Alpine in the final race of the 2022 season at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. This will also be the Australian's final race with McLaren.

Despite having a tough time adjusting to the car, Ricciardo is positive about McLaren's result after the race and also their standings against Alpine. He feels that the pace the cars had throughout the sessions was 'decent' and enough to bring up a challenge against their rival French team. He stated:

“I think it (the pace) was decent. If this is all relative then I think we are kind of there, talking about the Alpine battle."

Alpine and McLaren have been battling each other throughout the season. Although Alpine currently have the upper hand, there are possibilities for Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris to help McLaren overtake Alpine in the constructors' standings.

While this should have been easier for the British team, Ricciardo's performance in contrast to his teammate has been very poor. Daniel Ricciardo has only scored 35 points so far, while Lando Norris has scored 113 points, the difference is huge. On the other hand, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso have consistently delivered and thus have helped the team battle McLaren.

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Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris show promising result in qualifying

During the qualifying session in Abu Dhabi, McLaren showed a much more competitive pace than their rivals, Alpine. While Fernando Alonso qualified on P11, Daniel Ricciardo was a step ahead of him on P10, and Lando Norris qualified on P7, a step ahead of Ocon.

Although a 3-place grid penalty will see Ricciardo start further back in P13 (penalized for causing a collision in Brazil), there are still hopes for the team to perform, as Ricciardo said ahead of the qualifying:

"I think there are a couple of tenths to find but we are in the ballpark. Obviously we’ve got to find that, but I think we are competitive to give us a bit of confidence tonight to make small changes and then hopefully find that little bit tomorrow."

This will be Daniel Ricciardo's final race with McLaren before he gets replaced by Oscar Piastri in the team. Post this season, Ricciardo earlier had no plans for the upcoming season and had stated that he would sit out and prepare for 2024.

However, as per reports, Ricciardo will make a return to Red Bull after four years as a reserve driver for the team. He is expected to be with a competitive team for the 2024 season, but being with Red Bull in 2023 could provide the Australian with a good opportunity.