The time for speaking is sort of over.
Quickly we’ll lastly see Daniel Ricciardo again on the observe, in his first race of the season with AlphaTauri.
The grid heads to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix, and earlier than issues get underway the AlphaTauri duo of Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda previewed the race for the media. For Ricciardo, the thrill begins with the mere truth that he’s again on the grid for a group he is aware of effectively.
“I’m stoked to be again. As at all times with the Purple Bull household, you must be prepared for a name and when it got here I jumped on the alternative. The transition to AlphaTauri has gone easily,” stated Ricciardo. “Final week, I used to be again in Faenza, the manufacturing facility has modified loads since I final raced for the group a decade in the past, however there have been nonetheless loads of acquainted faces and I felt at residence as we put together for the upcoming race.”
Ricciardo admits that there can be variations between driving the RB19 — as he did ultimately week’s check in Silverstone — and sliding into the cockpit of the AT04. However he insists that he’s as much as the problem.
“Once I drove the Purple Bull within the tyre check at Silverstone final week all of it felt very regular. The AlphaTauri automotive can be what it’s. I’m going to drive it and work from there. I don’t wish to have too many preconceived concepts about it,” added Ricciardo. “I believe if it’s a automotive that feels balanced, that’s one thing I can work with. It’s going to be a problem, to leap in and simply hit the bottom operating, however I’m enthusiastic about it.”
Tsunoda outlined how he’s trying ahead to working with Ricciardo, however did share some ideas about Nyck de Vries, his outgoing teammate at AlphaTauri.
“I’m trying ahead to working with Daniel. I can’t say I do know him very effectively, however we had a enjoyable day filming collectively earlier this yr in Miami. I believe I’ll profit from having an excellent, skilled driver as a teammate,” stated Tsunoda. “I’m certain I can be taught plenty of issues from him and I additionally anticipate he’ll have the ability to deliver one thing to the group and transfer the automotive improvement ahead.”
“I might additionally wish to say that I had an gratifying time over the previous ten races with Nyck. I discovered from him, and we additionally had fun away from the observe,” added Tsunoda. “He had loads of expertise in different classes and gave the group good suggestions primarily based on his information. He had the tempo and, as a buddy, I loved my time with him.”
As for what to anticipate this weekend from AlphaTauri, Tsunoda believes that some upgrades, coupled with the configuration of the Hungaroring, ought to favor the AT04.
“For this weekend, we’ve extra upgrades for the race in Hungary, on prime of these we delivered to the final race,” described Tsunoda. “Budapest has fully completely different observe traits in comparison with the previous two races, and its slow-speed corners ought to go well with our automotive higher than the high-speed ones. I just like the observe, it’s technical and difficult, and good enjoyable.”
For Ricciardo, taming the Hungaroring comes right down to rhythm, and hoping you utilize extra of the fitting foot than the left.
“I’m trying ahead to additionally growing the automotive and utilizing my expertise, and in the end, I believe, for Budapest, simply exit and have enjoyable, attempt to use extra proper foot than left and have an excellent time! The important thing to this observe is getting right into a rhythm – you place so many corners collectively – and if the automotive is balanced, you’ll be able to actually have some enjoyable,” added Ricciardo.
The enjoyable begins in a number of brief days.
