Ricciardo a bit 'bittersweet' over gap to Sainz in qualifying

©McLaren

McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo was happy on the one hand to split Ferrari's drivers in qualifying in Mexico City, but on the other the Aussie rued the meager gap between himself and Carlos Sainz.

Ricciardo clocked in P7 at the end of Q3, the Aussie grub in a Ferrari sandwich served as McLaren and the Scuderia continue at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez their fierce battle for third in the championship.

It wasn't the cleanest of shootouts for Ricciardo but the McLaren charger nevertheless noted improvements over Friday for his MCL35M and a grid position on the right side of the track for Sunday.

"It’s a little bittersweet because obviously Carlos is two-milliseconds in front, but to split the Ferraris is not too bad around here," he said. "We worked as a team well, with Lando giving me some help.

"I think the clean side of the grid should be OK tomorrow. I made a little mistake in Turn 13 which I think cost me sixth but the clean side of the grid isn’t a bad offset, so we’ll work with that.

"We did make improvements going into today, yesterday was tricky as we missed a lot of running.

"We hit the ground running and I think we have to be fairly pleased with P7. We’ll try to get a couple off the start tomorrow."

Read also: Norris set for grid penalty after engine change

Norris' qualifying session was largely conditioned by the grid penalty triggered by an engine change that will send him to the back of the grid on Sunday, which meant the Briton was mainly out on track to help his teammate.

"A good enough day, I don’t think there was a lot more we could do," said Norris.

"We helped Daniel to get into the best position possible, which we achieved. We struggled a little bit with the car in general, but we’re still hopeful for a positive result.

"I think we can have a good race, but we’ll need to work hard tonight to give ourselves a good plan going into tomorrow."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.