AlphaTauri F1 left struggling in “different league” in Las Vegas

Daniel Ricciardo encountered a tough race, qualifying 15th and finishing 14th among the 17 remaining cars at the end. Grip issues plagued much of the race for him.

Unfortunately, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda retired, resulting in this being the first event in four occasions that the team failed to score points. Before this, they had nearly closed the gap to Williams to only seven points, but this outcome halted their progress.

“I entered the race with optimism,” said Ricciardo when questioned about his performance by Motorsport.com. “But the reality was uncertain. We struggled with our race starts and restarts due to a missing element that affected our tire grip on the slippery asphalt.”

Although the expectations were to improve once the tires warmed up, Ricciardo was unable to recover. He acknowledged that they struggled at the start of the stints. Despite a potential improvement at the end, he admitted that the car didn’t have the pace to make it to the top 10.

Ricciardo expressed, “The other cars seemed harder to follow this year, making it difficult for us. We noticed damage to our tires once we got closer to other cars. Despite this, the good news is that our rivals Williams, Haas, and Alfa Romeo also didn’t score, leaving room for us to perform better at the upcoming race in Abu Dhabi.”

Reflecting on the race, Ricciardo shared, “The difference in grip levels was evident as I was being overtaken on the slippery Turn 3. It’s clear that we have some work to do to operate at the same level as our competitors. I’m optimistic about the next race and looking forward to our post-race analysis.”