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Ricciardo impresses at AlphaTauri: 'Like he never left'

21:11, 21 Jul 2023

byToby McLuskie

Daniel Ricciardo is back on the Formula 1 grid and everyone can know it. Such is the mood around F1 at the moment, but the Australian had to work seriously in Hungary to master the AT04.

Replacing De Vries

When you have to join the worst team on the grid in the middle of an F1 season, you can use every minute of testing. For Ricciardo, it was a big disappointment that the rain meant he could hardly drive in the first practice session. In FP2, therefore, the Australian had some catching up to do and reached a total of 29 laps.

Ricciardo himself was very appreciative of his first day back in an official F1 weekend and they are also happy with the eight-time race winner at the team. “It’s been great to welcome Daniel back to the team, and we've all been excited to get to work with him trackside. We had a good plan to maximise the running with him today, get him comfortable with the car and get his feedback on the handling characteristics, but the conditions in FP1 hampered that,'' said Chief Race Engineer of AlphaTauri, Jonathan Eddolls.

''FP2 was fully dry, so we were able to recover the plans, with both drivers completing short runs on the medium and soft tyre, before the usual long runs for race preparation. Daniel was quickly up to speed on the medium tyre and slightly under-utilised the grip on the soft compound, so there's definitely more to come.''

Ricciardo never left

''We've been impressed by his performance and feedback so far, and he's fitted straight into the team like he never left. The updates we've brought are working, and we look forward to seeing what we can achieve in quali tomorrow,'' Eddolls concluded.

Eyes will be entirely on Ricciardo on Saturday, who still had to concede four-tenths to Yuki Tsunoda in the short run on Friday. The Japanese will be expected to qualify better than his new teammate, but Ricciardo will want to be very close.