The start of the season was far from exciting for Daniel Ricciardo, who struggled to find the right feeling with his VCARB01, particularly in the faster corners. If in the slower or medium speed sections the references are almost in line with those of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, in the faster sections a significant difference was instead found.
If in Saudi Arabia the Australian thought he had found an answer to his difficulties, underlining that the team would make changes in view of the Grand Prix in Melbourne, the problems also resurfaced in the home race. This has left more than a few doubts for the driver from Perth, who is now trying to regain confidence in the single-seater, also through a chassis change.
On the eve of the Japanese Grand Prix, Ricciardo himself revealed that he had spoken about this opportunity with the team: “It's something we talked about to be sure. In the past there have been some differences. Obviously I've driven F1 for a long time time, but you can find differences. So it was definitely an issue that we addressed.” However, the confirmation came from the Faenza team itself through the words of Alan Permane, racing director of the team.
Daniel Ricciardo, VCARB 01
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The new chassis, clearly, was not created exclusively to dispel Ricciardo's doubts, but it is the spare body that the team would have prepared in any case for the first part of the world championship, given that it still takes time to create another unit.
“Honestly, for me the frame is a big piece of carbon to which we attach the suspension, the engine and the gearbox. It's really unlikely that there will be any performance issues with the frame,” explained Permane, although, in case of damage or microcracks, it is clear that this can have a negative impact on the behavior of the car.
“However, if we have a new one coming, it makes sense on all levels to give it to Daniel, also because Yuki is very happy and very comfortable at the moment. We have no preference on drivers. With Daniel perhaps it is good that he puts himself completely the soul at peace, thinking that there are no problems with the car”, added the racing director, underlining how the choice to give a new chassis can be useful from several points of view.
Permane believes there are no problems with Ricciardo's current chassis, although there have been occasions in the past where various teams have discovered damage to the bodywork after their respective drivers have pushed for more in-depth checks, even going so far as to change the same unit in the following GP or during the same weekend. Through specific tests, Racing Bulls can clearly verify whether there is any damage and the rigidity values of the bodyshell.
Daniel Ricciardo, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“Sometimes you can measure things, you can put frames on specific tools and check stiffness and things like that. The reason I say it's very unlikely is that it's not a performance differentiator. The airframe survival device, as it is called in the regulations, is used to mount the front suspension, to mount the engine and to guarantee the safety of the driver”, added Permane, who does not believe that it is the chassis that makes the difference on Ricciardo's performance, clearly linked only to the comparison with his teammate.
“So I don't see it as making a difference in terms of performance. It's a lucky thing that there's one coming, and it doesn't make sense to give it to Yuki. It makes sense to give it to Daniel, but we're not bringing a new one. chassis due to its problems, let's be clear. It's just that everything fits together perfectly.”
Permane admitted that the team must adopt a particularly careful approach in fine-tuning the car for Ricciardo's personal preferences, because if on the one hand they want to give the Australian more confidence, on the other they don't want to make the car slower .
“It's not easy, because you can solve these problems by working on the set-up. But what you don't want to do is make the car slower, and we were very careful not to make it more comfortable, but slower. In a perfect world, I believe you have to tune the car, give it confidence, and then slowly work your way back to get the maximum performance from the package available.”
Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“There's no reason why Daniel can't drive the car as it is now. That's clear. I'm pretty sure he figures it out himself and that's what we need to do, give him the fastest car possible.”
For Suzuka the team introduced a revised floor, which was used by Tsunoda in FP1, while Ayumu Iwasa, a young driver lined up to complete one of the two mandatory sessions required by the regulations with a rookie, lapped with the old version. Ricciardo, who then returned to the track for FP2, also had the opportunity to fit the new package, which should guarantee greater load, even if he was unable to lap much due to the rain that fell during the session.
Although it was brought to Suzuka, a track which features many fast areas, in reality the new surface was not designed to improve performance in that type of corner, but rather in the slower sections. Racing Bulls is in fact looking for load, especially at the rear.
“The new package gives us a little more load. We're a little hesitant to say that it will be of great help here in Suzuka, because the new package should perform best in the low-speed areas, while here in Japan there are more fast corners, so we're curious to see how it will go.”
“I think our car is strong, it's the strongest of the midfield group, we're clearly at the top in that area. We'd like a little more performance in the high-speed corners, we're missing a little something, that's why I say we're a a little hesitant about the potential here in Suzuka. In the next two races we will have some updates regarding that area.”
#Ricciardo #seeks #answers #chassis #China
