Ricciardo’s Mexican GP transcript · RaceFans

The Mexican Grand Prix was a rare bright spot in an otherwise forgettable 2022 campaign for Daniel Ricciardo.

The McLaren driver is marking time until the end of the season following the announcement he will not return to the team again in 2023 as planned.

He qualified outside the top 10 again in Mexico, but on race day tyre strategy fell in his favour. Despite being penalised for a tangle with Yuki Tsunoda, he picked up a badly-needed points finish for McLaren, which moved them closer to rivals Alpine in the constructors championship.

Ricciardo freely admitted afterwards he had been able to jump ahead of team mate Lando Norris thanks to a mid-race change in strategy. Both drivers started the race on the medium rubber, but after Norris pitted for the hard tyres, McLaren realised the soft tyres would work for the second stint, and Ricciardo took a set of those.

While he dismissed Norris’ claim that the strategy was worth as much as 40 seconds, Ricciardo acknowledged he benefited from pitting later and choosing a different compound.

“If it was 40 seconds, everyone would have done it,” said Ricciardo. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was the better strategy, there’s no doubt. But it was in our plan, if the tyre was lasting, keep going and try to attack at the end. And that’s what we did.”

Daniel Ricciardo’s 2022 Mexican Grand Prix team radio messages

Ricciardo was involved in a first-corner collision at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez 12 months earlier. This time he was more cautious, but lost two places on the opening lap, as Yuki Tsunoda starting strongly immediately behind him and Zhou Guanyu found a way past too.

While McLaren were…