The sprint in Austin was the first serious test for Daniel Ricciardo, who was back behind the wheel after a hand injury. The Australian AlphaTauri rider looked good around the course and although he finished two positions below his starting place, he was overall happy with his performance.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda made up five positions and finished fourteenth.
Daniel Ricciardo (12th): “I am happy with my lap in the second part of the sprint qualifying. Considering the speed of our car, reaching the final would be a huge achievement, and we were very close.
I’m happy with the progress I made in the second session compared to the first, especially as we couldn’t change the car’s settings on Friday. The team did their homework and did some things that allowed me to attack with more confidence.
It’s good that we were able to complete the sprint, and another race awaits us on Sunday. I’m happy to be wrestling again – it’s a good feeling! In terms of my driving, I am satisfied with some aspects, but I know I can improve on others during Sunday’s race.
At this temperature, the grip of the tires on the track was low, especially in those corners where the old asphalt was replaced by new – this affected the behavior of the car. However, closer to the finish I had an encouraging pace, we will see how everything goes in the race.”
Yuki Tsunoda (14th): “In the first part of qualifying for the sprint I couldn’t make a second attempt because the session time expired just before I started the fast lap. So we lost the chance to start the second session, which is disappointing because the car made a good impression and we had potential. In general, it’s a shame.
During the sprint we also showed a good pace, I was able to overtake several cars and the battle on the track gave me pleasure. But most importantly, we have been able to obtain a large amount of information about our pace over long series of laps and will analyze it in preparation for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
The challenge is to start fine-tuning and try to find a better balance. We will start the race from eleventh position and if we can maintain today’s pace we will have the opportunity to fight for the points.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
