Daniel Ricciardo feels he is not seen as a former McLaren driver inside AlphaTauri. Image: Russell Batchelor/XPB
Daniel Ricciardo is confident he has shaken off the gremlins from his recent past with McLaren following his move to AlphaTauri.
After being axed by McLaren after two years of a three-season contract, Ricciardo returned to F1 earlier this year as a replacement for Nyck de Vries who was sacked following just 10 grands prix of his rookie campaign.
Despite a truncated season, further hampered after breaking a bone in his left hand that saw him miss five races, the 34-year-old has since recaptured the character of old from his five seasons with Red Bull from 2014-2018, with the form starting to emerge.
“There’s a lot for me in coming back that’s really exciting,” said Ricciardo.
“There’s a team that is rebuilding, a little bit like how I’ve done this phase in my career, so we’re all on a similar path.
“I would say there’s a lot of confidence, and I think the team has a lot of faith in me.
“They still see me as a Red Bull driver and the results I had there, and not as a McLaren driver with the results I had there.
“So we’re all in a good place. I really look forward to a proper off-season and a pre-season. I think 2024 is going to be exciting for us.”
Although Ricciardo only drove in seven grands prix, with his standout performance being seventh in Mexico after qualifying a stunning fourth, he knows there remain areas of improvement going into a full season with the team next year.
Ricciardo claims that whilst he was “pretty happy most days” with his race pace, declaring it “something that was really positive”, qualifying proved a let down beyond the anomalous outing in Mexico City, although he feels he understands part of the problem, related to race engineer Pierre Hamelin.
“I feel like the race, the more laps I get in the car, the more I kind of understand it and get into a rhythm,” said Ricciardo.
“Quali there were certainly some standouts, and then some, like Abu Dhabi, where we didn’t quite get fully on top of it.
“Look, as experienced as I am, and as much as I believe in myself, my engineer Pierre worked with three drivers this year, trying to set up the car for each driver, what we like, what we don’t, and it wasn’t easy for him.
“If I look at Brazil and Abu Dhabi, qualifying was the Achilles heel, and I’ll obviously take some responsibility for that, not maybe putting the best lap together.
“The pace is there, so it’s just really sorting out the one-lap pace, other than Mexico and a couple of others. But there’s a lot to be encouraged about.”
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