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Daniel Ricciardo is not worried about the wet weather forecast compromising the sole practice session ahead of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. Despite having minimal experience in the AT04, the AlphaTauri driver is confident he can adapt and manage the weekend well.
Asked by Sportskeeda if he was concerned about FP1 getting canceled due to the weather, Daniel Ricciardo joked:
“I am going to stay inside.”
On a more serious note, he explained the situation and his approach towards the weekend, saying:
"I think this weekend it's already going to be just one of those weekends, you kind of start from scratch anyway in the wet. Obviously, I would love to do a few laps in FP1 to get a good feeling. I don't know the kind of approach to it is going to be what it is going to be."
"I think it's going to be tricky, slippery, challenging but hopefully the same for everyone. I’ll just have to learn quick. But I don’t think I’ll be too much on the back foot, I’ll have a bit to learn but I don’t expect to be two seconds off the pace and scratching my head. I think I’ll have to push myself earlier in the session and make sure I’m not falling too far behind and not playing catch up. I think that’s important."
Despite having only one race length of mileage on the AT04, Daniel Ricciardo is confident about being able to speed up the adaption process if FP1 is canceled to wet weather. With a sprint weekend format and only a single practice session ahead of the race weekend, most of the grid will have a complicated weekend if they were to lose running time.
The Australian driver stated that the challenges will be the same for everyone if weather impacts proceedings. The former Red Bull driver seemed confident as he spoke to Sportskeeda ahead of the Belgian GP weekend.
Daniel Ricciardo feels his approach for the weekend in Belgium remains unchanged
Daniel Ricciardo stated that he will enter the Belgian race weekend with a little more knowledge about the car than he had before. The Australian driver believes the Belgian GP could be challenging, given the weather conditions.
Ricciardo added that the race in Hungary gave him a bit of confidence, but he plans to approach this race weekend ready to learn more.
Asked about his approach for the Belgian GP weekend, Daniel Ricciardo said:
"I approached this weekend the same. It’s obviously been only a few days, a week ago today I hadn’t even still driven a car. Yeah I’ll approach it in the same place, just with a bit more knowledge now. I mean, it's going to be different this weekend, it looks wet and whatever, new challenges and all of that."
"But obviously other than the turn 1 stuff, it was probably as smooth as a weekend or the first weekend could have gone, if it’s considered. I was happy, I was happy with the weekend. Gives a bit of confidence, but I’ll take the approach for this weekend as unchanged."
Speaking to Sportskeeda after the Hungarian GP race in Budapest, Daniel Ricciardo was pretty certain he could have fought for a points finish with the pace he had in the car. The Australian seems to be more confident about the AlphaTauri AT04 than the McLaren he drove in 2021 and 2022.
The 34-year-old has approached his mid-season debut with AlphaTauri as a means to regain his mojo and make his way back to a top seat on the grid, preferably with his old team Red Bull.
