Ricciardo not convincing Marko in America: 'That's hard to do in an hour'

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Ricciardo gp america qualifying convince marko
21 October 2023 at 09:30
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  • Toby McLuskie

Daniel Ricciardo returned to the AlphaTauri car for the United States Grand Prix. However, F1 qualifying did not quite go to plan for the Australian, as he finished down in 15th place.

After missing four Grands Prix, Ricciardo is back in the F1 paddock. The good-humoured driver broke his hand at Zandvoort and was replaced by Liam Lawson in the meantime. Ricciardo got back in the car for the first time in his beloved America, but it was not easy.

What went wrong for Ricciardo in America?

''It's good to be back. There was nothing physically holding me back today, so it was about finding the feeling in the car and the setup. It’s hard to predict what we could’ve done with only one hour in the car this morning and then straight into qualifying, but the last lap was already feeling a little poor. It’s difficult to only have one session where you have to set the car up for what it is for qualifying,'' Ricciardo revealed afterwards.

Ricciardo was just under three-tenths slower than teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese himself fell just short of advancing to Q3. ''It was a shame because we were fighting a little bit from the start, but as the track started to ramp up, we plateaued a little bit. I feel I could've given more, but we have another chance tomorrow (Saturday),'' Ricciardo concluded.

The Australian is keen to perform well on his return. He is reportedly high on the list to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing. For that to happen, it seems logical that he first needs to start beating Tsunoda at AlphaTauri. Especially if he wants to convince Helmut Marko who would have his doubts about a return.