AlphaTauri have proven with the most recent updates made to their AT04 car that they have a solid pace for the remaining weeks of the season.
By overtaking Lewis Hamilton with three laps to go in the sprint and finishing sixth at the São Paulo Sprint, Yuki Tsunoda stole the spotlight since this was AlphaTauri’s first ever points scored on a Saturday.
Such was the strong pace from Tsunoda and his package, he was closing on Leclerc and Russell in the closing couple of laps.
“Really happy. Overall the team had really good pace with Daniel as well.”
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
On top of that, as a result of Tsunoda’s performance, AlphaTauri gained a 3-point advantage over Alfa Romeo in the constructors’ championship, and they are now only 9 behind Williams in the battle for 7th place.
Considering the team worked incredibly hard on upgrades, Tsunoda was asked to share what makes him feel more comfortable and confident in the car, as well as what he expects from Sunday’s race.
“Yeah, I think especially from Austin we know that we have good pace and we know the direction we have to take for the set-up side and that gave us a bit extra confidence from the rest of the races.”
He then continued: “Obviously it (getting points on Sunday) won’t be easy starting from P16 and I think Aston Martin didn’t really show their real pace today because they’re starting P3, so it won’t be easy, but we’ll do our best.”
On the other hand, Daniel Ricciardo placed ninth as AlphaTauri shown impressive pace from their strengthened car, although the Australian claimed the result was somewhat disappointing.
Unfortunately for the 34-year-old, he was only two tenths of a second behind Sainz, who came P8.
On the start/finish straight, Ricciardo passed the Ferrari twice, yet, the DRS wasn’t working in his favor and the Spaniard regained the spot on two occasions heading down to turn 4 as the AlphaTauri is proving to be quite draggy as well.
He also got mugged by Oscar Piastri at one point in turn 8 as he dropped to P10, but he would get back through on his fellow Aussie a few laps later.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
After a while, it got harder to catch Sainz as Ricciardo’s soft tyres began to slowly fade. Despite this, they fought all the way to the chequered flag, finishing 0.2 seconds apart.
This left the Australian visibly very frustrated as he kept swearing on the team radio at the end of the race.
Soon after that, he turned to the media and flashed his signature smile once again. However he was still clearly frustrated, clearly regretting what was left on the table.
The AlphaTauri F1 driver considered the Sprint race as “fun, but also frustrating”.
“On one hand, it was nice to be in a battle. It certainly wasn’t a boring race. So part of my fun box is fulfilled. But my frustration box is also very full because we obviously had pace for points, and every time I passed Carlos, you then give them the DRS for Turn 2 and beyond that.”
Ricciardo showed no sign of satisfaction, he claimed “9th in a Saturday is world’s worst position”, having finished one position outside the top eight that collect championship points.
Regarding his expectations for the race on Sunday in São Paulo, where he is starting in 17th position, he is hopeful of moving forward considering the strong pace both cars had on Saturday.
“Anything is possible. I think we just need to strategise when to use our pace and there’ll hopefully be some slower cars. We’re not going to have a Ferrari probably in front of us on that one.”
It’s Ricciardo fifth complete weekend since his return to F1, and he admits there’s still a learning process going on, while trying to cut out mistakes.
“I am still making more mistakes here and there and always learning but having fun. So that’s good.”
