Daniel Ricciardo proved why Christian Horner and Helmut Marko had placed bets on his good performance at the Mexico City GP. He dazzled the crowd with an incredible P4 in qualifying, just weeks after breaking his wrist. Ricciardo positioned his Alpha Tauri, crucially ahead of Sergio Perez.
Considering Alpha Tauri’s poor mechanical package, there has been a widespread belief that Ricciardo’s exceptional performance was a fluke. That is certainly not true. The reason for this is that the Australian expressed optimism about the rest of the weekend and the possibility of the car earning some points following Friday’s practice.
With his quickest lap, Ricciardo will start from the second row for the first time in almost two years. However, in addition to the fact that he is the fourth fastest, the enthusiasm also comes from having a significantly smaller gap than anticipated with the polesitter.
The excellent performance undoubtedly helped the honey badger regain his self-belief and confidence. But he still felt that something was left unfinished after the US GP. The 33-year-old explained to Sky Sports F1 that he was itching to get back in the vehicle to wrap things up in Mexico. That was evident during the qualifying round when Ricciardo frequently placed in third and fourth place while drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen saw more variations.
In his conversation, the Australian said, ” There were some things with setup that we knew we could try this weekend, having a more conventional weekend. I mean, P4 is maybe a little more than we thought. I think as a team we definitely have confidence.”
Daniel Ricciardo expresses his own happiness with the team’s achievement
Ricciardo might not have been able to finish in P4 if Yuki Tsunoda hadn’t towed the Australian during the first two qualifying sessions. Since Tsunoda will start the race from the back on Sunday due to a power unit change, Ricciardo emerged as the beneficiary of the tow, which subsequently saw him pull to Q3.
After reaching the third qualifying round, Ricciardo set a scorching speed to secure the best grid position for Alpha Tauri in 2023, which was P4. Later, it turned out the honey badger trailed polesitter Charles Leclerc by just 0.21 seconds.
🚨| #MexicoGP We need to mention the fact that #DanielRicciardo out-qualified #SergioPerez in an AlphaTauri. This performance, in this moment full of rumour about next year’s RBR seat, is really something special from the Australian.
Is Daniel ready to go back to the top?#F1 pic.twitter.com/JajiJDniBU— The F1 Dream (@thef1_dream) October 28, 2023
The fact that Ricciardo appears to have helped the team achieve its best performance of the season thus far indicates that the squad’s bonding is growing. The Perth-born driver and the rest of the team, however, are all driven by this unexpected outcome. It looks like the Faenza-based team will soon pass competitors like Haas and Alfa Romeo in the rankings thanks to the adjustments that are making Ricciardo happy and confident.
Speaking about the race on Sunday, Ricciardo is now predicting that even if the leading teams might have an advantage in the long run, he will strive to finish in close proximity to P4.
