Ricciardo thinks back to McLaren: 'Never again'

Daniel Ricciardo took over the seat from Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri with two races to go before the summer break, with the Australian quickly 'mastering' the car. That was a different case while driving his previous employee McLaren, and Ricciardo hopes to never experience that again.

That is what the Australian said to GPblog and others. Ricciardo was manoeuvred out of McLaren in 2022 for the arrival of compatriot Oscar Piastri. However, Ricciardo did not come completely empty-handed, as he became a reserve driver at Red Bull Racing. That kept him closely involved in Formula 1, and the moment it turned out that De Vries was disappointing, it earned him a quick comeback on the grid.

Ricciardo loathes detailed work at McLaren

After two races, there are still no points to his name, but his performances looked good, and he did not disappoint in the AT04. The conversation with Ricciardo comes down to McLaren. Does he have as much trouble with AlphaTauri as he had with McLaren? Ricciardo: "I don't want to get into that detail ever again. I think even through year one at McLaren at the summer break, I learned we were probably going into too much. We needed to change the approach a little bit."

The AlphaTauri suits Ricciardo better. He says that on his return to Formula 1, he was able to continue to use his own driving style to control the AlphaTauri car, despite the lack of effective aerodynamics on the AT04. Ricciardo does not expect things to be easy from this point on. There will be challenges too, but overall, the driver is positive. Ricciardo calls his first impression recognisable, and he is hopeful for more positive results after the spring break.