Ricciardo: I have proven that we are capable of good pace

Daniel Ricciardo is very pleased with the results of Friday’s training in Mexico City; according to him, he was quite comfortable behind the wheel of the AlphaTauri car from the start of the weekend.

Yuki Tsunoda gave up his driving position to Isaac Hajjar in the first session, and he will also have to start from the pit lane as his AT04 has a completely new power source.

Daniel Ricciardo (6th): “Everything is going great, it was a good day. I wanted to start training as soon as possible; Immediately after the weekend in Austin I wanted to continue working on the track. I think some of the things we learned after that race helped me prove today that we are capable of good pace.

The training was interesting, besides I like the Mexican circuit and the car made a good impression. I think we’ve made noticeable progress with the settings, and everything is fine in that regard, but everyone is showing pretty similar speeds.

In the afternoon we showed the 6th result, which is great. At the same time, we have not lost much to the leaders, but behind us everything is very tight. Tomorrow the next task will be solved: driving a good lap in qualifying.

Compared to Austin we started the weekend here with slightly different settings, and I immediately felt comfortable behind the wheel, and then we gradually improved. I am in quite a fighting spirit and would like to continue. Of course I’m careful not to make any predictions for qualifying, but I know exactly what I felt behind the wheel of the car today and it was a pretty positive feeling.

That’s why I believe she will make us fight tomorrow for access to the final session.”

Yuki Tsunoda (12th): “Back in Monza the engine of my car failed, and unfortunately it was a new engine. Therefore, we had to purchase another engine in addition to the number allocated for the season, and in Mexico the time came when it had to be installed on the car.

Since I’m starting from the pit lane, the tactics will be clear: we have to rely on long series of laps.

By the way, today at this circuit I was in exactly the same situation as a year ago: then during the first training I also had to give up my place behind the wheel to a young driver. So this is normal and not the first time for me.

I don’t like everything in the car, there were a few moments that I didn’t expect, but we will try to solve them. It’s about chassis balance. But the team’s training plan was good and I’m happy that we achieved almost everything.

There are many areas where we can improve, and we have gathered a lot of information today that we will need in the future.”

Isaac Hadjar (17th in the first session): “It was the best day of my life! It was my first time driving a Formula 1 car and it was incredible, so I’m just happy.

Although I was initially overwhelmed by the amount of information to include, it involved both work procedures and traffic, so it was a challenge. But I got into the rhythm pretty quickly and my confidence grew.

During the first set of laps I found it difficult to complete a lap without getting into trouble with traffic, but in the final run the pace was good and consistent and I was able to work effectively on the soft tires for many laps. I really enjoyed this first experience and can’t wait to get behind the wheel again.”