Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth place in qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix surprised everyone and some thought it was an exploit. The seventh place obtained in the race, however, speaks of a driver who has rediscovered himself compared to what we saw in the two-year period at McLaren, but also to the previous race weekend in Austin.
Between the Texan and Mexican tracks, however, fundamental aspects changed which helped Daniel and AlphaTauri find an effective direction to exploit the characteristics of the AT04 and the skills of the driver.
AlphaTauri’s head of track engineering, Jonathan Eddolls, explained what changed between Austin and Mexico City on the number 3 AT04 which gave Ricciardo a clear leap in quality from the first free practice session last weekend .
“We see that Ricciardo drives the car differently than other drivers we have worked with, and also compared to Yuki. The way he approaches the corners, the way he brakes. His driving style is different.”
“In Austin we put Ricciardo back on the Tsunoda set-up because Daniel had been missing in the car for some time and the car, in the meantime, has evolved a lot on an aerodynamic level. Its characteristics have changed. Then he was stuck in that set-up due to the Parc Fermé, and that was his problem in Austin.”
“We came away knowing that he probably had a lot more performance to extract from the package that, however, we didn’t have the opportunity to unlock.”
Things changed quite a bit in Mexico, with the teams having not one, but the standard three free practice sessions available to fine-tune the car. Ricciardo managed to benefit from this aspect, taking home a seventh place which gave AlphaTauri oxygen, making it recover three positions in the Constructors’ World Championship.
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri
“Using the Mexican weekend with the classic format allowed us to spend most of Friday working on different set-ups, so as to try to unlock more potential from the car based on Daniel’s driving style,” continued Eddolls.
“We’re not talking about big numbers, but we can see differences in the way he drives. And he sets lap times in different parts of the corner than the others. So the car had several weaknesses compared to the way Yuki drives it.” .
“One of his big limitations was related to the front end. So the set-up indications were targeted there and we were able to improve that aspect of the car for him.”
Eddolls, after seeing the result obtained by the Australian at Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, stated that Ricciardo should continue with the same set-up used last weekend.
“I believe that Daniel will continue with that set-up. But let’s not forget that Yuki was also strong. Also because he lost Free Practice 1 to give up the wheel to Isack Hadjar”.
“With the Soft tires in Free Practice 2, Yuki had a pace very similar to Ricciardo’s. The direction we took with the set-up didn’t just help Daniel.”
“I can’t speak for McLaren, but our car behaves in a stable way. Maybe we don’t have enough downforce or aerodynamic efficiency that some top teams have, but we don’t have any major or specific problems with the car.”
“The AT04 basically does the same thing every lap, corner after corner. And that has given Daniel enough confidence to drive in a certain way. He knows that the car will behave the same way lap after lap. It’s a car which gives him the confidence to push close to the limit. And perhaps he didn’t have this aspect when he was racing for McLaren.”
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