Following two underwhelming seasons with McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo was let go from the Woking-based team and had nowhere else to go. But the Australian driver rejoined his former team, Red Bull Racing as a third driver before the start of the 2023 season. And after just 10 races in the season, he replaced rookie Nyck de Vries in AlphaTauri. Thus, giving him a shot at redemption after his reputation dipped with his stint with the Papaya team. He has driven in two races since rejoining and has enjoyed some form too. And per Ricciardo, his teammate deserves the credit for his revival.
Having stayed away from F1 for 8 months has proven rather fruitful for the Australian as he got the time to gather himself and get back to putting in impressive performances. Ricciardo has shown glimpses of his best self in a car that has much room for improvement. And should AlphaTauri do the needful, they might have their hands on a winning combination.
Having replaced Nyck de Vries, Ricciardo might even get a bump back to Red Bull in coming seasons, granted he performs well. But none of it would have been possible if it weren’t for his AlphaTauri teammate, Yuki Tsunoda.
Daniel Ricciardo accredits Yuki Tsunoda for helping him improve and achieving a comeback
Since coming to AlphaTauri, Daniel Ricciardo has been spending time with Yuki Tsunoda, who has helped him grasp a better understanding of what to do and what not to do. Tsunoda helped him understand a better line and limit of the car he’d be driving.
“I definitely worked on some things, and Yuki was an excellent frame of reference for me. It allowed me to see where the car could be driven at the limit and where not, the engineers showed me. There was learning to be done, but they also wanted to see how I was driving the car. I steered the car in a natural way and then we went from there to see how we would continue things,” said Ricciardo.
Having earned his place back in the starting grid, Ricciardo now faces the pressure of being a consistent performer. While he is a starter for the remainder of the season, it serves as no guarantee for next season. The only sure-shot way of confirming his F1 seat for next season would be to outperform his buddy Tsunoda. Given AlphaTauri’s major chunk of competition comes from the back end of the grid, Ricciardo’s best hopes lie in outperforming them all, his teammate included.
Ricciardo has been an all-new version of himself since joining AlphaTauri
During his time at McLaren, Ricciardo felt he was trying a bit too much and pushed himself unnecessarily. He was constantly looking to do something new while searching a little too much, said Ricciardo.
Having left Red Bull for McLaren, Ricciardo underwent major changes, which left him unrecognizable even to his former boss, Christian Horner. Ricciardo’s driving reminded Horner of his days as a struggling driver at Renault.
Since getting Daniel Ricciardo back from McLaren as their third driver, Red Bull has worked with him extensively to help him get rid of all the “bad habits” he picked up at McLaren. Having put in hours at the racing sim and working with Red Bull’s engineers, the Australian finally took his first steps towards rediscovering his form.
