Daniel Ricciardo: "That felt like the longest race ever. The race start was so late, so it already felt like a long day, and then with all the restarts it felt even longer. The starts were good, I always made up positions until the last one where I stayed fourth.

"I used the Hard tyre for the race start, so we couldn't really use it for the restart and were forced to go on the Medium, and I think the Hard was the better tyre. So, I couldn't quite get Esteban [Ocon], and I tried to hold off Valtteri [Bottas] as long as I could. I was surprised how long I held him off, but I think once he let his tyres reset, it was quite hard to keep him behind. I defended him one lap, re-passed him and then he got me. I struggled a bit at the end with the tyres, so I'm happy to have held on to a top five. It certainly makes up for yesterday."

Lando Norris: "A very unlucky day. I think we deserved much more today. The team did a good job and I thought I drove a good race, but the red flag changed everything and ruined any chance of a stronger result, just by being unlucky. It was a long race after that. So, I'm disappointed. On the positive side, we scored one point again - but I feel we deserved a lot more."

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "Mixed feelings this evening. However, I'm very happy that, after three very challenging weekends during the triple-header, we've responded with a strong performance here in Jeddah. After starting P11 due to his damaged floor yesterday in qualifying, Daniel had a very competitive race to finish P5. Lando made a strong start and unfortunately was very unlucky with the red flag that cost him a lot of positions - but he fought back well for a point.

"A big thank you to everybody: the team here at the track working in very hot conditions, everybody back at the factory and our colleagues from Mercedes HPP. Operationally, we executed a clean race despite challenging circumstances with the red flags, which was vital in order to get the good result we had with chaos all around us. Finally, congratulations on a successful first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, here at this new and exciting venue in Jeddah. One more to go in 2021: let's go for it."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Jeddah, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 06/12/2021 13:38

"I think that Ricci drove a stormer of a race considering where he started and where he finished in a very very tough and demanding race. He was able to thread his way through the opening melee with finesse and was able to take it to the front runners for a considerable amount of time in fourth place. Norris was unlucky in the pit call but is now getting all shouty about how unfair the rules re tyre changes under a red flag are!!! Had he stayed out he too would've benefited and it's my guess there wouldn't have been a peep out of him. Sometimes he can be a real jerk."

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Saudi Arabian GP: Race team notes - McLaren

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