The weekend of Daniel Ricciardo’s return after his injury was not the easiest, especially given how Sunday’s race went, in which various problems had a negative impact on the Australian driver’s pace.
There were many expectations surrounding the Australian, who was returning after a long injury that had kept him away from the tracks since the Friday of the Dutch Grand Prix last August, thus leading him to miss the rest of the weekend in Zandvoort plus four other events. After a recovery period that lasted almost two months, including physiotherapy and simulator sessions to understand the condition of his hand, Ricciardo returned to the race tracks last weekend in Austin.
On the one hand, the AlphaTauri driver had to deal with a complex track, not only due to the layout, but also due to the type of asphalt which features numerous bumps, which make it difficult to optimize the car’s ground clearance as best as possible . On the other hand, in recent weekends the Faenza team has introduced important update packages that have somehow changed the behavior of the car, even if not radically. A new fund was also planned in Austin. Although the work on the simulator can provide initial indications, the work on the track is fundamental and, with only one session available before parc fermé, there was little time to find the best set-up.
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04
After an overall positive sprint, albeit out of the points, Ricciardo started Sunday’s race from the fourteenth spot on the starting grid, gaining two positions when the traffic lights went out. With Guanyu Zhou’s early stop, the Australian thus rose to eleventh place, right behind his teammate, maintaining an almost constant gap of around 4 seconds.
Just like Ferrari and Mercedes, AlphaTauri had also chosen to lengthen the first stint in order to focus on a strategy that initially included a single stop, having its driver return behind both the two Alfa Romeos and the two Williams, thinking of being able to gain over the long distance, saving the time of a pit stop. On the contrary, Yuki Tsunoda, who was certain of going for the two stops, had returned ahead of his rivals, putting himself in the running for a place in the top ten.
However, immediately after fitting the set of hard tyres, Ricciardo was faced with the failure of a part of his car, which permanently compromised his race. In fact, just as he was in Logan Sargeant’s wake, a part of the flow diverter next to the front wheels that incorporates the brake ducts on his car gave way, remaining stuck in the area of the left suspension for the entire second stint. This not only blocked part of the brake cooling ducts which had remained intact, but also negatively impacted the flow pattern on the left side of the single-seater, with a loss of load and a consequent aerodynamic imbalance of the car. Something like this had already happened last year on Max Verstappen’s car on the weekend of the United States GP, but in that case the piece remained attached to the rest of the diverter, significantly limiting the damage.
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar
The piece that gave way on Ricciardo’s car and then got stuck in the second stint
Given the circumstances, AlphaTauri then decided to make a second stop towards the end by fitting the soft tire in case of a Safety Car and, right at the moment of the pit stop, the piece that was initially stuck was removed by a mechanic: “Unfortunately we suffered some damage… I told the team: ‘I’m sorry, guys, I don’t have anything extra [in termini di passo nel secondo stint] Right now. I just can’t do anything.’ This made our race quite miserable. At best, we are a top 10 car and, when you consider the damage, we are certainly out of the points. Let’s say that most of our day today was full of bad luck,” explained Ricciardo.
“Daniel’s race was more complex: despite a good start, he suffered damage to part of the brake duct shortly after the pit stop, losing aerodynamic balance and pace. This made him slip to the back of the group. We tried to intervene hoping for a Safety Car towards the end, but there were no accidents and we were unable to recover positions”, added Jody Egginton, technical director of the Scuderia di Faenza.
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