At the Austrian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo recovered from a slow start in the first practice session to ultimately finish ninth in the main event, giving the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team two hard-earned points and quelling, for now at least, any widespread rumors about his F1 future.
After a “difficult” Friday at Silverstone, he will need a similar rebound to score some points at the British Grand Prix.
Ricciardo finished 13th in Friday’s first practice session and was last on the grid in 19th place in FP2. Things weren’t much better at the other end of the garage, when team-mate Yuki Tsunoda spun in FP1, cutting the session short and dropping him to 20th place. Tsunoda returned in FP2 and improved a bit on his time, setting the 16th fastest time of the session.
Both drivers are looking forward to doing even better on Saturday.
“It’s been a difficult day,” Ricciardo admitted in the team’s post-practice report, “In FP2 we had some issues with the car with regards to loads so we found some answers to those difficulties. Of course we try to do what we can, but it was a bit unclear what our true pace was so it was a bit disappointing. Overall, we found some weaknesses and will try to improve them for tomorrow.”
“We will look at the data and try to find the track, but I’m sure it won’t be too strange,” Ricciardo added. “It will be a tough circuit this year, but we should be able to improve on it and be further up the grid than we were today.”
Tsunoda said his spin in FP1 was not an “ideal” start to the weekend.
“We didn’t get off to an ideal start to the race weekend in FP1, losing valuable track time, but we were able to gather enough data in FP2. I think we know where we are now,” said Tsunoda. “I didn’t expect to struggle as much as we did in FP2, but we still have time and I’m confident that we can improve by two tenths of a second tomorrow and aim to advance to Q3. Our car doesn’t seem to be very well suited to the characteristics of this track with its long, high-speed corners, but the other drivers seem to be working hard. They’re doing a good job, so we’ll continue to work and fight to move up.”
VCARB Racing Director Alan Parmain echoed the team’s drivers, describing Friday as a “challenging” start.
“It was a challenging day for us as Yuuki wasted most of the first session with his spin. Because of this he was not fully prepared for FP2 and was not able to perform to his full potential, but overall he is happy with the car,” Permanent added. “It is clear that Daniel needs to work overnight to find the low-speed performance that is struggling with rear instability and costing him lap times. With rain forecast for both days of the weekend, we will also keep an eye on the weather and take this into account in our set-up choices. We need to make sure everything is perfect to give our drivers a chance in Q3 tomorrow.”
As with the Austrian Grand Prix, more rumours about Ricciardo circulated on Friday. At the Red Bull Ring, there were rumors that Ricciardo might be demoted in VCARB. Friday’s rumors included some heavy swings. Meanwhile, there is speculation that a driver swap could be made following Sergio Perez’s recent poor form and Ricciardo’s strong form in recent weeks.
German Outlets Automobiles, Motors, Sports It was reported on Friday that performance clauses in Perez and Ricciardo’s contracts could allow for such an exchange next season, with Red Bull reportedly hoping to see improvements from Perez in Budapest and Spa.
As is often the case, Dr. Helmut Marko added fuel to the fire: Cars, motorcycles, sports “[w]He said, “We will know more by the summer holidays,” but did not deny the reports.
It certainly is difficult.
