"Look at the delta to Max": Red Bull boss sings praises of Daniel Ricciardo for his performance at the 2023 F1 Mexican GP

Red Bull CEO Christian Horner believes Daniel Ricciardo's recent performance was a sign of him getting back to his old form. Having witnessed successes with the Australian in the past, the Briton felt that the 34-year-old’s gap to Max Verstappen in the qualifying itself was an indicator of his potential.

Starting fourth on the grid and finishing seventh in the Mexican race, Daniel Ricciardo convinced his critics he was hungry for success. Speaking to the media including Sportskeeda after the race in Mexico, the former Red Bull driver warned to expect a more competitive AlphaTauri in the future.

However, some of his critics have analyzed his performance coming down to the setup of the AT04. Before Mexico, the AlphaTauri was set up to suit the Australian where he could make the car perform to his liking, as compared to the McLaren he drove in 2022 which had its rear-end limitations.

Asked about the rear-end limitation of the McLaren that cost Daniel Ricciardo in 2022, Horner said:

"I think that’s a bit of a fallacy to say. I think sport is as much in their head as it is in anywhere else. He’s back to his old self, he’s relaxed, he’s confident and I thought this weekend.

"He came into the weekend fully motivated after a tricky Austin coming back from injury and I thought he did a great job this weekend. It is great to see Daniel performing so well and fully endorses the reason why we brought him back into the AlphaTauri."

Hailing the performance of Daniel Ricciardo in Mexico, Horner said:

"I thought he was outstanding this weekend, fighting Mercedes in an AlphaTauri. And if it were not for the red flag, he’d have finished further up, so it was a great performance and certainly looked like the Daniel of old this weekend. Look at the delta to Max, it was less than a tenth I think so a remarkable performance by him.

"I think he just brings them a bunch of experience. They had two inexperienced drivers in the car. I think he’s just put a bit of direction into their engineering and they’re benefiting from that. So he has that experience. That’s part of what he brings."

One of the strengths of Daniel Ricciardo has been his style of late braking and cornering differently. With the AlphaTauri tweaked to his liking, the Australian has been able to be more competitive in Mexico and is expected to be the same in Brazil.

Evaluating the AlphaTauri driver’s performance, Horner quashed the theory of the Perth-born driver’s limitations with car setups. According to many analysts in the sport, he was unable to change his driving style successfully to suit the McLaren and achieve similar successes as he did with Red Bull.

Unable to decouple his driving style at McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo finished outside the top 10, losing his drive at the Woking outfit despite being signed until the end of 2023. After his performance in Mexico, Horner felt that the tenth-of-a-second qualifying gap to Verstappen was an indicator of his potential which had not faded away.

The Red Bull CEO feels that the Aussie’s performance has given a sense of direction to the AlphaTauri team which has often been a grooming ground for Red Bull junior drivers. He felt the wealth of experience the former Grand Prix winner brings to the Faenza-based squad reflected in the way their car battled a Mercedes in the race.

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Daniel Ricciardo explains McLaren limitations as AlphaTauri engineer explains his limitations

Daniel Ricciardo believes that the McLaren car didn’t have elements that did not work for him. Speaking after the qualifying in Mexico to media including Sportskeeda, he warned to anticipate a more competitive AlphTauri in the future.

The Faenza team’s chief race engineer Jonathan Eddolls told The Race that the Australian was limited by the front end of the car and the AlphaTauri had been tweaked to suit his style of driving. Both AlphaTauri drivers have a different style of handling the car, and with the car setup tuned to the former Red Bull driver’s liking, he was able to gain confidence and maximize the AT04’s potential.

Explaining the difference between the car he drove last year and the one he’s driving this year, Daniel Ricciardo explained:

"Yeah that was definitely something with McLaren that didn’t, we obviously spoke out, that didn’t suit me and I couldn’t quite understand or get my head around it. So it's nice to be able to now kind of be able to set the car up a bit more to my liking. And hopefully this is the start of a consistently faster AlphaTauri."

Breaking down the technical side of the resurgence of Daniel Ricciardo, the AlphaTauri engineer Edolls explained:

“The driving style is different and not only from the mechanical or aero platform, but we know the Pirelli tyres are quite sensitive. The way he drives we can see different tyre temperatures, different tyre temperature balance. We're not talking big numbers, it's not massive, but we can see differences in the way he drives.

"And he makes the lap-time in different parts of the corner. Therefore he exposes different weaknesses to say Yuki does - he drives it in one way, Daniel in a slightly different way. So we just need a slightly different set-up direction for him. One of his big limitations has been the front end.

"So the [new set-up] directions have been able to improve the front end of the car for him, accepting the stability compromise and how that impacts the tyre temperatures through the corner and through the lap.”

Prior to Daniel Ricciardo scoring points in Mexico, AlphaTauri were running last in the constructor’s championship. His contribution to the points tally has now promoted them to eighth place in the championship and the Australian believes they can end the season further up.

Having only three weekends of track time and a setback with his hand injury, the Western Australian’s renaissance is being hailed by many as he eyes his old seat at Red Bull for the 2025 season and beyond.