In Formula 1, the Red Bull junior team, AlphaTauri, has been on an upward trajectory after introducing a significant upgrade package at the United States Grand Prix. Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo’s teammate, showcased the team’s progress by securing their best finish of the season with an eighth-place finish in Austin. As the team’s understanding of the car expands, AlphaTauri continued to shine in Mexico. Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian driver, made a notable impact by qualifying fourth, sandwiched between the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. He then delivered a strong race performance, finishing in seventh place.
With only three races remaining in the season, including the upcoming Sao Paulo Grand Prix, AlphaTauri finds themselves just 12 points behind Williams in the battle for seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship. Daniel Ricciardo is optimistic about their chances to bridge the gap.
When asked if AlphaTauri can catch Williams before the season’s end, Ricciardo responded, “If this weekend continues, absolutely. It’s hard to know. Brazil is a very different track but it’s similar. It’s still at altitude, and you still run with high downforce, so maybe it could help us. Let’s see. Vegas? Who knows? A lot of long straights, so we’ve got to be a little more aerodynamic than what we normally are. But I think for Brazil next week, we could be in a good position.”
Ricciardo, who made a comeback after recovering from a broken hand in Austin, expressed his satisfaction with his performance in Mexico. He believes there is room for improvement and stated, “There’s still certainly some things to get out of it. Even in the race, my first sector was a little average – I wasn’t very consistent through the chicane – so for sure some things I can still improve on. But overall, I was very, very happy with the weekend.”
Despite achieving his best result since the last year’s Mexican Grand Prix and relentlessly pursuing George Russell’s Mercedes, Ricciardo felt that he could have achieved an even higher position. The red flag incident caused by Kevin Magnussen’s crash affected AlphaTauri’s strategy and hindered their race. Ricciardo acknowledged that the red flag hurt their race but emphasized the importance of driver safety, stating, “That hurt our race because strategy and everything was looking pretty smooth. Obviously, the main thing is he’s okay. It obviously bunched everyone up and allowed some cars to use a medium tire, which we didn’t have. I think, at that point, it was probably a bit more nervous on the pit wall. But in the big picture, we have to be very happy. I was honestly trying as much as I could.”
