Daniel Ricciardo expects his return to Formula 1 with AlphaTauri will be a challenge and says he is in the dark about how their car will handle.
The nine-times grand prix winner raced for team in 2012 and 2013 when it was known as Toro Rosso. Following his ousting from McLaren at the end of last year Ricciardo has been signed for the rest of this season to replace Nyck de Vries.Ricciardo’s first race back in F1 will be in this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. He said he “felt at home” on his visit to AlphaTauri’s Faenza factory last week.
“The transition to AlphaTauri has gone smoothly,” said Ricciardo. “Last week, I was back in Faenza, the factory has changed a lot since I last raced for the team a decade ago, but there were still plenty of familiar faces and I felt at home as we prepare for the upcoming race.”
His return to F1 was announced after he impressed championship leaders Red Bull while testing for them last week. “When I drove the Red Bull in the tyre test at Silverstone last week it all felt very normal,” said Ricciardo.
However Ricciardo expects a greater challenge from AlphaTauri’s car. The team is at the bottom of the championship standings and both its drivers were eliminated in Q1 in each of the last three races.
“The AlphaTauri car will be what it is,” said Ricciardo. “I’m going to drive it and work from there.
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“I don’t want to have too many preconceived ideas about it. I think if it’s a car that feels balanced, that’s something I can work with. It’s going to be a challenge, to jump in and just hit the ground running, but I’m excited about it.”
“I’m looking forward to developing the car and using my experience and ultimately, I think, for Budapest, just go out and have fun, try and use more right foot than left and have a good time!” Ricciardo said.
“The key to this track is getting into a rhythm – you put so many corners together – and if the car is balanced, you can really have some fun.”
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2023 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Was F1’s Alternative Tyre Allocation test successful? Drivers and teams have their say
- How far can McLaren climb with car rivals now say is the second-fastest in F1?
- Why Ricciardo says McLaren’s car “speaks Lando’s language” – but Norris disagrees
- Mercedes reveal cooling error behind loss of pace in Hungarian GP
- Perez answered critics in Hungary but needs to qualify better – Horner
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
19th July 2023, 11:00
I doubt there’s much pressure on Daniel to perform. He’ll be quick enough to match or beat Tsunoda, we’ve seen enough of Daniel over the past decade to know he’s not a slow driver. That will be fine. This whole exercise is nothing more than removing some “race rust” for the second Red Bull seat.
They’re basically doing with Danny what they did with Honda engines. Use the b-team to prepare for a step up next year. Makes sense that it doesn’t really matter if he the car he has allows finishes in p4 or p14. As long as he’s getting that rhythm so he doesn’t have to take multiple races at the start of next season to get back into the swing of things at Red Bull.
MichaelN
20th July 2023, 8:17
On the contrary, if he doesn’t perform he’s basically out. Again.
He was really bad at McLaren, already couldn’t keep up with Verstappen when the latter was far less experienced, so unless he basically “pulls a Fernando” on Tsunoda, why would any team want him for next season?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th July 2023, 23:03
Yes, he has to perform, the mclaren ricciardo wouldn’t beat tsunoda out and would be out of f1, the red bull ricciardo would beat tsunoda handily; if red bull ricciardo comes back, depending on perez’s performance, he might indeed get back to red bull, but we’ll have to see, after all he will have to drive a pretty bad car now and show to be an alonso, not a raikkonen, as in a driver that can adapt to a bad car.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th July 2023, 23:03
wouldn’t beat tsunoda now*
SteveP
19th July 2023, 19:30
Relative to his teammate in McLaren – yes, he was.
Relative to his new teammate, who has 1.5 seasons experience of that design – let’s see.
Mog
19th July 2023, 22:01
Daniel seems a bit circumspect with his media face, less bubbly than usual. I think the time at mclaren hurt him, lets see if it made him stronger