Ricciardo 'happier' after enduring 'good problems' in Spanish GP

For Daniel Ricciardo, there are problems and "good problems', and the McLaren driver faced the latter in Sunday's Spanish GP which he finished P6, his best result to date with his new team.

A blistering fast start from seventh on the grid saw the Aussie leapfrog Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to clock in fifth at the end of the first lap where he remained for most of the afternoon until he succumbed to the pressure of Red Bull's Sergio Perez during the final tier of the race.

But the McLaren driver said that he was more than happy to deal with the pressure exerted by a faster rival – Perez – and then by Sainz.

"I had some good problems in terms of the start was good, and that got me in front of a couple of faster cars and therefore that meant I then had to defend pretty much the whole race," Ricciardo explained.

"With Checo I was doing as much as I could for as long as I could, and he got me and then I had Carlos for the last kind of quarter of the race or so.

"We didn’t have the pace today but it was nice to at least hold off a faster car and just put a better weekend together.

"So personally, I’m happier, but we still have obviously something to find in the car and in myself but it was a smoother weekend and definitely the best one of the year so far.

• Read also: Norris and Ricciardo to showcase Senna's cars at FOS

Ricciardo's good result coupled with teammate Lando Norris' run to P8 delivered a bag of points that has kept McLaren at the top of F1's midfield and third overall in the Constructors' championship.

F1 now moves on to Monaco, the scene of Ricciardo's last win in the sport, achieved in 2018 with Red Bull, and a venue he is impatient to revisit.

"Firstly I’m excited to go there. It's been two years," he said.

"It’s a track that you don’t get the privilege of driving, first of all, and to miss it for a year, I just can't wait to go there.

"And then we’ll figure it out after that, and it will just be a joy and a pleasure to turn a wheel around there again."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter