The joy and optimism that has largely accompanied Daniel Ricciardo’s return to the Formula 1 paddock is expected to quickly face a brutal reality check.
An eight-time Formula 1 race winner, Ricciardo built a reputation on his strength under braking and entering corners, with sensational late overtaking moves being the hallmark of his 12-year career.
But to pull off those audacious moves, he needs a car that can give him the confidence and control to attempt them.
Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
It was an issue that heavily impacted his time with McLaren and as Ricciardo told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast last year about the corner entry issue: “It all starts there.
“If you struggle with a corner on the exit, normally it’s a product of what’s happened through the corner that’s put you in a position of, let’s say, difficulty on the exit.
“Most difficulties start on the entry – maybe not all, but most.”
And that’s where the problem lies with his new team, AlphaTauri, and the AT04 machinery he will pilot for the rest of this season.
One of the key issues that Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries — the man Ricciardo is replacing — have faced this year is a limitation in late entry phase to corners, which triggers rear instability.
“The late entry, let’s say rear instability, which was the bigger weakness, that’s the area we’ve been working on,” AlphaTauri’s head of trackside engineering Jonathan Eddolls said before Ricciardo was brought into the team.
“We have improved it, but it’s still a weakness, I would say.”
While AlphaTauri has done loads of work to correct the issue, it has been a key factor in the
Red Bull support team’s terrible season to date, sitting dead last in the constructor’s championship with two measly points.
As is often the case, if you focus too closely on one particular issue with an F1 machine, you also open up other issues.
“With the late entry, and with that part being a weakness, to try to address that, you end up making other areas of the car slower,” Eddolls said.
“For example, let’s say you wanted to add aero balance for high-speed, which improves the balance but also gives you more load.
“If your low-speed entry is a limitation, that can limit how much flap or aero balance you can add. So, a weakness in one area can actually have implications everywhere.
“Obviously we’re trying to find a compromise that gives us globally the best lap time. But that’s the trade-off that we’re doing each week really.”
That all leaves Ricciardo, who turned 34 earlier this month, facing an almighty battle to produce his best in his 12-race audition for a regular return to F1.
F1 great Martin Brundle said he was surprised to see Ricciardo take on the role given his prior hesitancy to drive for a backmarker.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Brundle said: “It’s high risk for Daniel in what is probably the slowest car on the grid.
“I’m really pleased to see him back, but just my honest reaction was, ‘wow. Daniel’s going to do that, is he?’ It surprised me.
“Daniel’s always talked about he’s lost his mojo and he needs to get his enthusiasm back, and so I didn’t think he’d take that, unless there’s another deal that goes with it, a ‘you do this and then down the road we’ll do that’.”
Brundle added that Ricciardo has “absolutely got to” beat Yuki Tsunoda to keep his F1 career alive in what is a slow car.
To put it bluntly, his return to the grid for the remainder of 2023 shouldn’t come with any great expectations.
The team’s two points came from Tsunoda, Ricciardo’s new teammate after de Vries’ rookie season was cut short.
The merciless axing was heavily criticised with the promising star failing to make anything out of the slowest car on the grid.
Fans can’t wait to see what Ricciardo can do when he gets behind the wheel, but the figures from the AlphaTauri car in 2023 paint a bleak picture of what’s to come for the beloved Aussie.
Through 10 races Tsunoda has a season-high finishing position of 10th, a feat he’s achieved twice.
His average finishing position so far this season is 12.9, a figure which far outweighs that of de Vries who had a 15.4 average finishing position before the axe came down.
Ricciardo’s race craft will hold him in good stead and more likely than not should see him outperform the far less experienced, and hot-headed, Tsunoda.
But it’s the pace of the car that shows how ugly things will be for Ricciardo over the remaining 12 races.
On only two occasions through the opening 10 races did the AlphaTauri make an appearance during Q3 in qualifying.
Once again both of those instances were delivered by Tsunoda with De Vries only making Q2 on four occasions.
The scary part is the car seems to only be getting worse with both drivers failing to make it out of Q1 over the past three races.
So while the excitement levels are high, expectations for what’s to come over the remainder of 2023 must be tempered.
While he’s proven time and again he has what it takes to fight at the front of the grid, the car we’re about to see Ricciardo step into is nothing like anything he’s driven since his early years.