Williams now seemed to have taken the right path to arrive at the end of the season in seventh place in the Constructors’ World Championship, then the Mexican Grand Prix changed the scenario quite a bit, showing how a few details can make a big difference in a short space of time .
Daniel Ricciardo, back in the car after breaking a hand suffered in free practice for the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, gave AlphaTauri an excellent placing at Hermanos Rodriguez, taking home 6 points which put the Faenza team through from last to seventh place cohabiting with Williams.
AlphaTauri recently brought important updates to the AT04, but in Mexico, especially in the hands of the Australian, the single-seater seemed made of a very different cloth compared to what had been shown up to that point.
Alexander Albon, Williams driver, gave his own interpretation on the technical and performance resurrection of the AT04 which involves the presence of the former HRT, Red Bull, Renault and McLaren driver. According to the Anglo-Thai, Ricciardo played an important role in the improvement of his car thanks to the indications provided to his team.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL60, Alex Albon, Williams FW45
“Daniel makes the difference. I believe that, more than the driving aspect, it is a matter of the indications he is able to give to the team. I think it is an aspect that is not noticed too much. I don’t know if he is giving different feedback from the others drivers, but if he is able to understand the package he has at his disposal well, he is able to extract more potential from it and this always helps.”
“I always say that my time at Red Bull was also very valuable, because I understood what a car should be like to be fast, what it needed. So when I moved to Williams I immediately thought: ‘Ok, there are these areas in these corners, where it’s very clear that we lose lap time.’ I wonder if Daniel also had the same sensations.”
Before returning to Formula 1 as a regular driver, Ricciardo carried out a test at Silverstone behind the wheel of Red Bull. The laps carried out on the British track were good enough to convince Christian Horner and Helmut Marko to immediately put him in the car instead of Nyck De Vries, but according to Albon those laps also helped him give directions for developing the AT04.
“I think Daniel didn’t do enough laps in the Red Bull at Silverstone to give adequate feedback, but it was certainly helpful in knowing where to improve the car when he arrived in AlphaTauri.”
“AlphaTauri was very fast in Mexico. It was in qualifying, but even before the Tsunoda accident, they managed to overtake me very quickly. So I’m not surprised. In the end I think their season was complex, because they changed many drivers. Maybe it’s difficult for them to know where their car is at. But yes, they were fast and there’s no doubt about that”, concluded the Williams driver.
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