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Daniel Ricciardo outqualifying Sergio Perez in an AlphaTauri has not gone unnoticed, with Red Bull's Helmut Marko terming the performance a good recommendation for his future. The Australian had a stunning qualifying session, clinching P4 for the 2023 F1 Mexican GP.
What made Ricciardo's performance even more impressive was the fact that his lap was only a tenth slower than Max Verstappen's and significantly faster than Sergio Perez's. With the Australian vying for the Mexican's seat at Red Bull, the performance may work in his favor.
Talking about the Australian, Helmut Marko said that Ricciardo's strong showing was a good recommendation for his future. He told Sky Germany:
"A great comeback after his hand injury and a good recommendation for his future."
Marko also spoke about the two Ferraris qualifying on the front row and felt a lot of it could be put down to the power modes. Continuing to be confident about his team's prospects in the race, he said:
"They must have driven at full power, it has to be. We have no other explanation, but that won't get you far in the race. Max did not have a clean lap in both Q3 attempts, with things going wrong in Turns 13 and 14 (in the stadium) and lost about one-and-a-half-tenths on both laps. With an optimal lap, we would have taken pole. However, you can overtake here, so we are still feeling positive for the race."
Marko praises Sergio Perez as well alongside Daniel Ricciardo
Turning his attention to Perez - who qualified just 0.160s behind Verstappen in fifth place, Marko praised the Mexican, even though he qualified behind Daniel Ricciardo. Marko said,:
"Checo has been strong all weekend and only 0.2 seconds behind Verstappen is a good performance. He's also ahead of Hamilton and that's the main goal, to finish ahead of the Mercedes. I'm still optimistic about the race. Everything went well from our point of view, except that we are not at the front. Instead of one and three we are now three and five."
Daniel Ricciardo will be hoping for a strong run this weekend as he starts the race in P4. It will be interesting to see if the Australian can get a strong result that helps his current team in the constructors standings.
