For 2 seasons Ricciardo and McLaren tirelessly labored to make the Australian comfy within the Woking squad’s equipment.
McLaren’s present lineage of automobiles has a infamous low-speed weak point, which the group nonetheless hasn’t been capable of handle, and its drivers have been pressured to compromise their braking and cornering fashion greater than they want.
Whereas Lando Norris, and now Oscar Piastri, have been capable of drive across the weaknesses to attain a string of podiums at circuits that swimsuit the present MCL60, Ricciardo by no means managed to beat the discrepancy between how its predecessors wanted to be pushed and his personal driving fashion.
Quick ahead to the second half 2023 and AlphaTauri, which has handed Ricciardo a lifeline after half a season on the sidelines, has made related observations to McLaren concerning the Australian’s wants.
“We are able to see that he drives the automobile in another way to a few of the different drivers that we have labored with, and with Yuki [Tsunoda],” head of trackside engineering Jonathan Eddolls defined on Sunday earlier than the Mexico GP.
“The best way he assaults the corners, the way in which he hits the brakes. The driving fashion is totally different.”
However whereas Ricciardo chased his tail at McLaren to cut back his deficit to Norris, which finally proved counterproductive and sapped him of confidence, he now seems to have discovered a automobile that does give him the pliability to deploy his pure driving fashion.
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36
Ricciardo’s wrist fracture seriously delayed that process. Throughout his five-race lay-off AlphaTauri introduced a gradual stream of incremental upgrades to its AT04, which meant that it had to return to fundamentals in Austin to get Ricciardo up to the mark with a automobile that was considerably totally different to the one he drove on his preliminary comeback.
The dash format’s restrictive parc ferme guidelines meant Ricciardo was soon stuck with a set-up that wasn’t optimal as he completed a lapped fifteenth.
“We had that the query mark [in Austin], which is why we kind of put him again on Yuki’s set=up, as a result of the automobile has developed quite a bit since we introduced many aero updates and traits had modified,” Eddolls added.
“After which he was caught as a result of it was parc ferme, in order that was the frustration of that weekend. We got here out of it figuring out that most likely there was extra efficiency within the package deal that we did not have the chance to unlock.”
In Mexico, nonetheless, Ricciardo and his engineers had the posh of three common follow classes to fine-tune his automobile.
The Faenza group discovered a set-up breakthrough that, along with its track-specific strengths, enabled Ricciardo to take a shock fourth place in qualifying, only a tenth behind Max Verstappen.
Photograph by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04
He converted that into a seventh place in the race on the tail of Mercedes’ George Russell, which might have been fifth if it hadn’t been for the timing of a mid-race purple flag. The stoppage allowed Russell and Norris to bolt on the sooner medium tyres, with Ricciardo had no usable set of.
“Coming right here as a standard and free weekend has allowed us to spend the many of the Friday engaged on totally different set-ups to attempt to unlock a bit extra potential from the automobile based mostly round his driving fashion,” Eddolls commented.
“We’re not speaking massive numbers, however we will see variations in the way in which he drives. And he makes the lap time in numerous components of the nook. And due to this fact the automobile exposes totally different weaknesses to the way in which Yuki drives it.
“Certainly one of his massive limitations has been the entrance finish, so the [set-up] instructions have been capable of enhance the entrance finish of the automobile for him.”
AlphaTauri has proven glimpses of promise since its newest spherical of frequent ground upgrades and totally exploited its mechanical grip on the excessive altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
However whereas its eye-catching Mexico type is just not anticipated to hold over to 2023’s remaining races to the identical diploma, Eddolls believes Ricciardo’s set-up beneficial properties will persist, and they’ll additionally profit Tsunoda.
“I believe that this may proceed with Daniel,” he stated. “However we have additionally received to recollect Yuki has been sturdy right here. He missed out on FP1 with Isack [Hadjar] within the automobile.
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04
“By the tender tyre run in FP2 he was up to the mark and practically matching Daniel. It isn’t like this set-up route goes to unlock potential only for Daniel.”
When requested why AlphaTauri was capable of make issues work for Ricciardo when McLaren couldn’t, Eddolls thinks the AT04’s lack of particular weaknesses, in comparison with McLaren’s low-speed struggles, has made it a extra benign automobile to deal with.
That has given Ricciardo a steady baseline to additional extract efficiency from, moderately than having to stroll on eggshells.
“I can not converse for McLaren, however the automobile we have got behaves,” he defined. “Perhaps we have not fairly received the load or effectivity of a few of the prime groups, however there are not any massive basic weaknesses.
“The truth that it does the identical factor each lap, nook to nook, has given him the arrogance to have the ability to throw the automobile into the corners and is aware of that it is going to stick and that it’ll do the identical factor each time.
“It is a automobile that is given him the arrogance to have the ability to push it nearer to the restrict than possibly he had at McLaren.
Increasing on his Mexico progress a buoyant Ricciardo stated: “The route we went with the set-up, I knew that might enable me to simply have a bit extra confidence with the automobile.
“Final week Yuki received 5 factors and it was enormous for the group. Everybody was cartwheeling and backflipping. So every week later to get six factors, I am very comfortable.
“For positive there are some issues I can nonetheless enhance on, however general I am very, very pleased with the weekend.”
