The time for renewal at AlphaTauri

Welcome back Daniel

Daniel Ricciardo arrived in the Budapest paddock on Thursday with a big smile on his face. If the Australian did not expect to be back in a Formula 1 car as a full-time driver so soon, it is now a reality, and he knows he must prove himself in order to hope for a seat with Red Bull in 2025.

Franz Tost, team principal of AlphaTauri, is very happy to welcome back his former driver. We had a very emotional return for him. It was nice to see him back in our team, because as you know, he drove for us for two years, and we are very happy that he is back.

Ten years have passed since his last laps with the Italian team. Does Franz Tost expect to find a changed Ricciardo? « I will be able to tell you how much he has changed as a driver after a few Grand Prix. As a person, he has of course gained maturity and I must say he has always been very friendly, we had very good relations in the past and I think it will still be the case today. He is a friendly person, with a good character and I am really happy that he is part of the team. »

Relever la tête

The excitement around this comeback must now calm down a bit in order to focus on performance. AlphaTauri is at the bottom of the constructor’s championship standings, with only two points, and must therefore redouble its efforts to improve its performance. This starts with a good team spirit: not a problem according to Franz Tost, who expects a healthy rivalry between his two drivers.

(Yuki is open to that, and although Yuki had a good relationship with Pierre Gasly as well as with Nyck De Vries, I think there will be no friction between him and Daniel Ricciardo: both want to be the fastest, don’t they? It’s usual in Formula 1, and we will see how this interesting game ends.)

But the changes do not only concern the workforce. Red Bull’s little sister had already made some improvements during the last weekend in Silverstone and will continue to do so in Budapest. « We hope that at least one car will participate in Q3 and that these improvements will work as planned, as calculated by the aerodynamics group in the wind tunnel and CFD. But you know, lap time is always crucial and I hope we have taken a step forward with these improvements, » Franz Tost confides in a press conference.

« It was also a very emotional decision »

The Scuderia director also had a few words for Nyck de Vries. He admits that the early season circuits, as well as the car lacking pace, did not put him in the best conditions.

« It was also a very emotional decision, because we have a very good relationship with Nyck. I spoke to him on the phone last week, and he hasn’t had an easy time with us. First of all, as a rookie, the first half of the season is not very easy because they race on many circuits that they don’t know, like Melbourne, Miami, Saudi Arabia. Then, they arrive in Baku, where it’s a speed race, which means there’s only FP1 and already the qualifying. This means that today, if a young driver arrives in Formula 1, they really have to be prepared in the best possible way, which for me means at least 5-6,000 km of testing, private testing with an old car. Like Alpine did with Piastri, that’s the best way to proceed. »

« Moving back to Nyck, it was difficult for him because our car was not very competitive, and if a car is not very good, it becomes even more complicated. I expected a much better performance in Austria and Silverstone because Nyck knew these two circuits well, but the performance did not live up to expectations and we decided to make a change. Additionally, thinking about the second half of the season, he is not familiar with Singapore, Japan, Mexico, Austin, and Qatar, which would not have made things easy. Now, with Ricciardo, we have an experienced driver, which also helps us in developing the car, discovering its weaknesses, and hopefully improving its performance. »