Despite Claiming AlphaTauri Handling Was Optimal, Daniel Ricciardo Sheds Lights on Problems With Speed Ahead of Dutch GP

Daniel Ricciardo made his F1 return midway into the 2023 season with AlphaTauri and the start to life has been decent for the Aussie so far. He claimed that the car’s handling made up for its slow pace. However, contradicting what he said, the honey badger is now wary of the upcoming Dutch GP, mainly because of the car’s slow pace, as per Autosport.

Nyck de Vries was AlphaTauri‘s driver of choice when the 2023 season started. However, a string of underwhelming performances in the first 10 races of the season convinced Red Bull that the Dutchman was not the right man. Hence, they decided to appoint Ricciardo to the Faenza-based team for the rest of the season.

So far, Ricciardo has competed in two races, and his performances have drawn several pundits, especially considering the fact that he was away from F1 for eight months and that AlphaTauri has the slowest car. Ricciardo finished 13th in Hungary and 16th in Belgium, but took his car to Q2 on both occasions. This he claims, was due to great handling. Now, there are other things that are bothering the Perth-born driver.

AlphaTauri’s race pace worries Red Bull aspirant Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo will suit up for his third race for AlphaTauri this season once F1 action gets underway in Zandvoort this weekend. In his first two races, he was calm and confident about his chances, citing the car’s handling as good. Now, however, he is doubtful of his chances, because of the seemingly poor race-pace of his challenger.

“I don’t feel like the car was at its best,” he said when talking about the Belgian GP.  “So even with all the downforce we had, I felt we couldn’t get the most out of it on a new tire. And I didn’t really feel that the band had grip and reacted. So that’s something we naturally need to understand how we miss out on. The race pace felt quite slow. It’s all a learning process.”

Ricciardo, who is hopeful of landing a Red Bull seat in 2024, has to be at the top of his game in the remaining 10 races this campaign. There is a long line of drivers interested in joining the Milton-Keynes-based outfit, in addition to their existing star, Sergio Perez, who seems to have found his mojo back.

Can Ricciardo oust a resurgent Sergio Perez?

When Sergio Perez failed to qualify for Q3 on five consecutive race weekends, the pressure on him reached boiling points. There were rumors of him being replaced by the team, and Ricciardo was one of the candidates being considered as per multiple reports.

However, team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko publicly backed him. Eventually, he improved his performances significantly in the last two races leading up to the summer break.

Now, it looks as though Ricciardo will find it difficult to complete his Red Bull return. However, the Perth-born driver will still look to finish the season on a strong note, to find a place for himself in the grid in 2024.