Daniel Ricciardo made his comeback to F1 after AlphaTauri axed Nyck de Vries. The Australian, who struggled in his last stint at McLaren, has been looking good in the AT04 and has bagged 6 points in 5 races with a P7 finish in the Sao Paulo GP. Recently, AlphaTauri’s Jonathan Eddolls revealed the behavioral advantage that AT04 gives to Ricciardo.
Eddolls said to Motorsport Total, as per Junaid Samodien on X, “There is a bit of a lack of downforce compared to the top teams, but the car is predictable. The car behaves the same on every lap and in every corner.”
“That gave him the confidence to throw the car into the corners and know that it works and it does the same thing every time.”
With the car having ‘no major fundamental weaknesses’ and being predictable, Ricciardo is confident in it and can push himself further to the limit than at McLaren.
AlphaTauri has scored as many points as Alpine and more points than Aston Martin over the last two races.
AlphaTauri- 11
Alpine – 11
Aston Martin – 6Daniel Ricciardo & Yuki Tsunoda have made AlphaTauri the team to watch in the midfield 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uFH4CawxI7
— Dan’s DRS Zone (@F1GuyDan) November 1, 2023
Admittedly, the 34-year-old had a terrible time with the Papayas. Despite a win, Ricciardo struggled to produce consistent results and was nowhere near his young teammate Lando Norris.
Nevertheless, after he was sacked from Zak Brown’s team, the Honey Badger jumped to Red Bull as a reserved driver and is now in AlphaTauri, driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda. With his eyes now set on Red Bull’s 2nd seat, the Australian has been a constant threat to Sergio Perez with his impressive driving in AT04.
Red Bull might replace Sergio Perez with Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull
Despite getting off to a brilliant start at the beginning of the 2023 F1 season, Sergio Perez could not keep his momentum going. The Mexican driver lost his mojo after the Miami Grand Prix, and things have not been the same ever since.
As things stand, Perez risks losing his P2 in the Drivers’ Championship to Lewis Hamilton. If that happens, Red Bull’s warning might demote him to bring in Ricciardo due to the Australian driver’s insane consistency with AlphaTauri.
“It started to look a little bit like the old Daniel again “
Christian Horner gives his thoughts on Daniel Ricciardo’s return to form at AlphaTauri 👇 pic.twitter.com/pDJzf2dOoA
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 5, 2023
However, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have constantly denied that Perez would not be removed from the Red Bull seat even if he fails to take P2.
The Mexican driver has a contract with the Austrian team, and they are going to respect that. Nevertheless, Red Bull would still be keen to see Daniel Ricciardo keep his resurgence in the sport intact.
