Ricciardo's Astonishing Performance In Mexico Questioned By Former F1 Driver Palmer
F1
Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer questioned if the outstanding performance of AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo won't be short-lived.
Daniel Ricciardo showed an astonishing performance in the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix. Starting from the amazing qualifying result of P4, he managed to cross the line on Sunday in P7.
His great result did not go unnoticed by Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, who said his performance was outstanding. Joylon Palmer said in the Chequered Flag podcast:
"He seemed revitalized this weekend, finished seventh, was very close to sixth, and scored some good points for AlphaTauri."
This amazing performance was the best result recorded for AlphaTauri this season and lifted the team two positions up in the Constructors' Championship. On the other hand, Palmer says:
"But for Ricciardo, he’s always been good in Mexico. It was his best race last year as well, for McLaren. He was ahead of [Lando] Norris in the race then. So you wonder if there’s a little bit of that. His qualifying was sensational. His race was very solid."
Ricciardo ended his contract with McLaren because his performances were, in general, not up to the standard set by Lando Norris. But as Palmer pointed out, the Honey Badger was better than Norris on this specific circuit even back then.
Another important thing to mention is that his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who started from the back of the grid, was at one point four seconds behind Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo's Japanese teammate showed a very strong pace and could have finished right behind him had he not collided with Oscar Piastri on lap 49. Palmer said:
"Tsunoda was trying to pass [Oscar] Piastri when those two came together. And that was for the eighth position, which would have been right behind Ricciardo at the flag, from the back of the grid, which would have been sublime from Tsunoda."
The main thing for Daniel Ricciardo right now is to show this kind of performance again. He will have multiple chances during this sprint weekend in Sao Paulo.
"The first thing is he’s got to keep it going – this sort of form – for three more races, because we haven’t really seen anything like this since he’s been in that AlphaTauri."
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