"Was the AlphaTauri just stonkingly quick?" - Daniel Ricciardo's result in Mexico under the scanner from F1 pundit

F1 pundit Jolyon Palmer is not entirely convinced if Daniel Ricciardo's result can simply be taken at face value as maybe the AlphaTauri car was simply the strongest in the Mexican GP.

The last race saw the Australian turn back the clock with a spectacular weekend in the car. The driver qualified in P4 and will finish the race in points to help the team in the constructors championship.

What was even more impressive was that he outqualified the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. The Australian was a tenth quicker than the Mexican while Max Verstappen was only a tenth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Daniel also avoided getting into too many battles and risking damage.

In the end, Daniel Ricciardo brought home a chunk of points that helped AlphaTauri jump to P8 in the championship. He got the better of Yuki Tsunoda as well over the weekend.

However, in his appearance on the Chequered Flag podcast, Jolyon Palmer, that maybe the car had a role to play in the Australian's strong weekend and said:

“The second caveat was what [Yuki] Tsunoda could have done this weekend, had he not been forced to start from the back because he was on a different run plan from the word go."

"He didn’t even sit in the car in FP1, so Ricciardo had the upper hand on his teammate the whole way through. Tsunoda never tried to qualify properly when Ricciardo was fourth, and Yuki was having a really strong race as well."

He added:

"Tsunoda was trying to pass [Oscar] Piastri when those two came together. And that was for the eighth position, which would have been right behind Ricciardo at the flag, from the back of the grid, which would have been sublime from Tsunoda. So that’s the one caveat – was the AlphaTauri just stonkingly quick around this circuit?”

Palmers claims Daniel Ricciardo seemed vitalized in Mexico

Jolyon Palmer was quick to point out that the Australian seemed vitalized in Mexico but also felt that the track had something to do with it. Last season, Daniel Ricciardo's best race was also in Mexico where he comfortably beat Lando Norris in a McLaren.

Palmer said:

“He seemed revitalized this weekend, finished seventh, was very close to sixth, and scored some good points for AlphaTauri. That’s their best result of the season as well. They jumped Haas, and they actually jumped Alfa Romeo as well by virtue of Ricciardo’s seventh place, so it’s actually momentous for the team."

He added:

“That won’t be lost on their employers [Red Bull] either. But for Ricciardo, he’s always been good in Mexico. It was his best race last year as well, for McLaren. He was ahead of [Lando] Norris in the race then. So you wonder if there’s a little bit of that. His qualifying was sensational. His race was very solid.

While it is safe to say that Daniel Ricciardo probably had the benefit of a stronger car, one can't deny that the Australian have an impressive weekend.