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Daniel Ricciardo feels he still has a lot to catch up after his first outing in the sprint race ahead of the 2023 United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, after the sprint, the Australian felt maybe he had a lot to learn from his teammate Yuki Tsunoda to understand the AlphaTauri car better.
Qualifying 10th on the grid for the sprint and 15th for the main race, Daniel Ricciardo has had a decent form upon returning. Despite recovering from a painful injury, the AlphaTauri driver has been on pace with his Japanese teammate from FP1 itself. The Aussie finished 12th ahead of his teammate and had a racy 19 laps of a sprint to prep him for the race ahead.
Daniel Ricciardo was asked by Sportskeeda whether finishing ahead of his teammate was any consolation to his sprint result. Impressed with the improved pace of the AlphaTauri since the last time he drove it, Ricciardo felt that there were areas such as time management and performance which he needed references from Yuki Tsunoda.
He revealed that the inside joke on the team was that they always ended up qualifying P11, which made him want to move further up the grid.
"Yeah, well I mean look today, I was definitely happy with my qualifying today with compared to yesterday. I think I certainly found a little bit more in myself. But the inside joke is we keep getting p 11. You know so that's we're always obviously Q3 is a big target for us and so as happy as I was with my lap today we were still feel themselves," Daniel Ricciardo said.
"But no I'm happy with the improvements I made today and I saw Yuki finished only a couple places behind. So probably you know some things that I can learn from him from today's race and maybe some, yeah, a little bit of time management and stuff like that," he added.
As happy as he was returning to the sport after a four-race hiatus, the Perth-born driver believes there were some areas he lacked such as reflexes at the start. He miscalculated the drivers overtaking him on the outside at Turn 1 and lost three positions. While he recovered to a 12th-place finish by the end of the race, he felt there were more improvements to be made.
"It was, I would say, there were definitely some pros and cons. I would say the pros was it was fun. I just really enjoyed being back on the grid. And yeah, it's probably one of my favorite feeling on a race weekend, like the lights, slowly all turn on and off for the start. That’s adrenaline spikes hard to get that in many other things in life. So that was enjoyable I think," Daniel Ricciardo said.
"Yeah, like some little bits of.. I don't like saying it because I’m very experienced but this year not so experienced. So a little bit of race rust, I think just some at turn 1. Part of me is like I should have seen the inside bottle up a little earlier. I kind of stayed there and then a couple of cars went around the outside. So little kind of race reads which I probably missed a little bit. But then through the race I picked up some lines and made some improvements. But certainly some things to work on for tomorrow," he added.
Daniel Ricciardo believes there was no point fighting Esteban Ocon in sprint on final lap
With a 0.1-second gap to Esteban Ocon on the final lap of the sprint, Daniel Ricciardo felt there was no point taking risks.
He explained that despite being in the DRS of Ocon; he was close, but not close enough to make a move. The Australian felt there were no points to fight for with a P11. Therefore, he backed off towards the end of the final lap. He felt it was a strange race and the inconsistent track surface at the American circuit did not make his race easier.
Asked by Sportskeeda why he backed off from Ocon on the final lap, Daniel Ricciardo explained:
"Yeah, so the last lap I got within his DRS, it was close. Look on one hand for sure I was going to try and do what I could to overtake but do some crazy dive bomb when we are not fighting for a point at the end there. I don't know. I didn’t want to do anything silly either. But I got close, but say not close enough to pull of a good move. But that was encouraging to have a little more pace at the end."
"But it was a strange race, to kind of even some cars in front they started slow went on faster. We kind of started slow, then came on a bit quicker. So really, really interesting one I think these temperatures and the ties and also the asphalt here there's some newer bits of asphalt which is high grip. Then you've got Turn 11 and the last corner, which is super old asphalt, really broken up, it affects the way the car handles a lot," Daniel Ricciardo added.
After recovering from an injured hand which required surgery, Daniel Ricciardo was last in the Singapore paddock for engineering purposes. The Australian was present at the street race to understand the upgrades on the AlphaTauri from the pit wall.
The 34-year-old has had a smooth momentum built towards the main race in Austin. However, racing for the third time in 2024, his performance is going to be critical for his motivation towards a successful comeback. He remains in the hunt for his first points in the 2023 season, with five races left on the calendar.
