Among the many topics on Friday there is also the return of Daniel Ricciardo, who made his debut on the AT04 replacing Nyck De Vries. The Australian probably faced the most complex and atypical Friday of the season, having to contend with the arrival of the rain and a format that didn’t allow him to ride as and as much as he would have liked.
Like many other drivers, in FP1 the Australian was conditioned by the weather conditions, being able to complete only three laps on average, in that session which would have come in handy to remove some rust and gain confidence with the car.
In the late afternoon, the AlphaTauri standard bearer then finished the second session in fourteenth place, without looking for a time. Indeed, Ricciardo himself admitted that there is still a fair amount of room for improvement, claiming that he was encouraged by how his first day on the track went.
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04
Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
“The position isn’t too relevant at the moment. I think today was a dedicated day mostly for me, to understand how I am with the car. And it all seemed quite familiar.”
“I think there’s obviously a lot of attention from the outside. But once I put my helmet on and got in the car, it felt like I never left. So that was cool.”
As per tradition, the set-up work during the night, as well as the possibility of continuing to lap, will help to gain more confidence and improve times in view of qualifying: “I think there is still something to do. And for sure there are some things I already feel in the car that we can work on”.
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04
Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
“So at the moment, I’m quite optimistic. It seems that Yuki too [Tsunoda] have had a good day. So yes, I think if we put all these aspects together, maybe we can do well on Saturday.”
One area in which to improve is precisely that of the management of the soft tyre, especially in terms of warm-up, given that each car has specific requests. “I think the first set of medium tires wasn’t bad. We’re working on it. Then, with the softs, I’m still learning how to put together a lap.”
“In general though, I think I found a good feeling with the car today. There are things I need to work on, but I’m not too worried. And then some aspects of the car on which we can continue to improve.”
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