In solely his second weekend again from a hand damage that dominated him out of 5 grands prix rounds, Ricciardo had already confirmed good tempo on Friday when he was sixth in FP2.
He slipped again to ninth in Saturday’s FP3 session, nevertheless in qualifying Ricciardo was on type as he took fourth in Q1 and fifth in Q2.
On each events he was helped by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who was in a position to concentrate on towing the Australian as his personal weekend was already compromised an influence unit penalty, however even and not using a tow in Q3 Ricciardo managed to qualify fourth and break up the 2 Pink Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Talking to Sky F1, Ricciardo defined that he “began the weekend with a little bit of a distinct set-up” which he felt “simply felt comfy with”.
Mixed with what he described as a “Positive chip on my shoulder”, the eight-time grand prix winner stated he has regained his confidence.
“I do know I have never accomplished a lot this 12 months race-wise, however I really feel loads like my {old} self,” remarked Ricciardo.
“And I really feel like yeah, I can do nicely. A number of issues that have been there, and it form of introduced out a variety of confidence.
“Even FP3 this morning, I used to be P9, and I wasn’t blissful in any respect with my lap. However versus form of being pissed off with that, it gave me confidence coming into quali that I can clear it up and we will be nicely inside the highest 10.”
Picture by: Mark Sutton
Daniel Ricciardo, Scuderia AlphaTauri
Ricciardo stated he already felt Positive about Mexico after a disappointing return in final weekend’s US GP on the Circuit of the Americas that he described as ”pretty miserable”.
“Actually I am not simply saying this now due to the consequence, however already Sunday evening in Austin, I used to be simply wanting it to be Friday observe,” he added.
“I wished to get again within the automotive, and felt like there have been some issues left on the desk. And there have been some issues additionally with set-up that we knew we may do that weekend having a extra typical [non-sprint] weekend, and a few issues that I positively wished to attempt to had some confidence in.
“So yeah, from lap one yesterday, I felt actually assured. And P4 is possibly a little bit greater than we thought, however actually coming into quali it wasn’t about getting Q3, it was how far can we get inside?
“So I feel as a workforce, we positively had confidence. However I assumed possibly with the right lap, it is a P6, P7, not fairly a P4. So it is cool.”
Reflecting on his Q3 session, Ricciardo revealed that getting a clear lap was one of many keys to his efficiency.
“It is a distinctive observe the place we run just about max downforce,” he stated. “However it’s tremendous slippery, as a result of the altitude.
“It is a kind of ones which you can by no means be too clear and too clean, since you simply will not be quick. However it’s a observe the place you possibly can’t afford to overdrive it, it’s totally straightforward for the lap to form of unravel and get away from you.
“Simply a variety of precision and that finesse and you are feeling like you would at all times go faster. However the second you attempt, you find yourself sliding and dropping a bit.”