Ricciardo set to race

Daniel Ricciardo has tested negative for Covid-19 and will be returning to Bahrain paddock on Thursday in time for the season opener.

McLaren had a number of drivers on standby if Ricciardo had tested positive, those being Nyck de Vries, Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul Di Resta and Alpine reserve, Oscar Piastri.

The Australian tested positive during the Official Pre-Season Test last week, leaving his teammate to conduct the three days of running for the Papaya team. Norris completed 200 laps over the 3 days- having the highest individual tally.

McLaren did however, run into problems with their overheating brakes and will have spent the time between the test and the Grand Prix attempting to fix those problems as they aim to join the frontrunners.

“McLaren F1 Team confirms that after testing positive for Covid-19 last week, Daniel has now returned a number of negative tests and will therefore return to the paddock on Thursday ready to compete in this weekend’s Bahrain GP,” said the team on Wednesday ahead of the Grand Prix. “Daniel has been feeling better each day as he continued to recover while in isolation following local regulations in Bahrain.”