'Sorry Yuki': Ricciardo wastes no time taking control of new F1 team

Daniel Ricciardo had plenty to prove as he made his return to Formula 1 racing after more than six months away from the grid.

Less than two races into his comeback with AlphaTauri, however, it already seems to be case closed.

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Jumping into a dismal AT04 car that had been at the back of the grid all season, Ricciardo has swiftly shown he will be right in the fight for points over the closing races of 2023.

And it has quickly turned heads.

Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda had taken the team’s only two points in a dreadful season. But Ricciardo finished in 13th right after stepping into the car in Hungary last week, with Tsunoda two spots behind him.

In Saturday’s sprint shootout ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Ricciardo finished a highly respectable 10th, with Tsunoda way down in 18th.

It hasn’t taken the Australian veteran long to take a stranglehold on his new outfit, as pit-lane analyst Ted Kravitz explained on Sky Sports.

“If this was a Grand Prix, (Ricciardo) would score a point,” Kravitz said.

“That is phenomenal. I’m going to call it. I’m going to really exaggerate the significance of that result and call it phenomenal.

“So Ricciardo is clearly the team leader. He’s clearly the team leader now. I’m sorry Yuki, but he is. You can understand that, he’s a seven or eight-time Grand Prix winner.”

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Scuderia AlphaTauri prepares for his comeback drive at the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on July 23, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Ricciardo has won eight Grands Prix in his career, seven from his time at Red Bull and one during his mostly unsuccessful stint with McLaren in 2021.

The 23-year-old Tsunoda is yet to snare a podium since making his debut in 2021 and Kravitz said it was clear AlphaTauri are already favouring the Australian.

“It was him (Ricciardo), being the one higher up on the grid, who got the earlier, more beneficial pit stop” he said.

“He was running P9 and close to (Alpine’s Esteban) Ocon. So if someone had dropped out he could have got a point. But he couldn’t get past and in the end finished right behind Ocon’s Alpine.

“So for Daniel Ricciardo in an AlphaTauri to finished four tenths of a second behind Esteban Ocon was very, very good.

“Yuki Tsunoda pitted second and had a miserable race and finished 17 seconds behind Daniel Ricciardo.

Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Scuderia AlphaTauri ahead of the Sprint at the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 29, 2023 in Spa, Belgium. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

“Poor Yuki. He’s battled gamely with this car all year and now is being shown which way to go by Daniel Ricciardo. Seventeen seconds behind Daniel Ricciardo. I know he didn’t get the rub of the green with the first stop, but that is a bit ouchy for poor Yuki.”

Tsunoda does have a great opportunity to finish ahead of Ricciardo in Belgium.

The Japanese driver will start from 11th on the grid, while Ricciardo had his best qualifying lap expunged after he drifted off the track on Turn 4 and will start down in 19th place.