Formula 1 Hungarian GP

Hungary masked AlphaTauri F1 weakness that could yet hurt Ricciardo

AlphaTauri thinks its persisting corner entry weakness was masked at last week's Hungarian Grand Prix, denying a clearer answer on how Daniel Ricciardo will fare in its Formula 1 car.

Filip Cleeren Jonathan Noble

Edited: Jul 26, 2023, 2:35 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04

Ricciardo joined his old team on loan from Red Bull from Budapest onwards to replace the ousted Nyck de Vries.

One area De Vries struggled with in the AT04 was its corner entry weakness, an issue that also bit Ricciardo during his troubled time at McLaren.

Ricciardo said he quickly felt at home in the car following his eight-month sabbatical, as he out-qualified team-mate Yuki Tsunoda and finished 13th despite being punted off by Zhou Guanyu at the start.

But according to AlphaTauri's head of trackside engineering Jonathan Eddolls, the characteristics of the twisty Hungaroring combined with the elevated temperatures have masked some of the car's ill-handling traits, with the jury still out on how Ricciardo will get along with his new car.

When asked by Motorsport.com before the race if AlphaTauri's corner entry weakness was still prevalent, Eddolls replied: "Actually, that hasn't been one of the biggest limitations so far of the weekend, because the tyre grip and the downforce sort of masked it. It hasn't been such an issue here.

"Interestingly, here we're coming to maximum downforce, very soft tyres. Also, here you can run them at very low pressures, some of the lowest of the season because of the circuit characteristics."

Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri AT04

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

But according to Eddolls, fixing its corner entry weakness is still a work in progress despite some of the team's recent upgrades, which include a tweaked floor and new front and rear wings.

"The updates are aimed at addressing that," said Eddolls. "I wouldn't say we fixed it, for sure, even though [the drivers] haven't been commenting and I think we understand why, so it continues to be the path that we want to take.

He added that 34-year-old Ricciardo hadn't reported any significant weakness or shortcoming of how his car behaves, but just confirmed the team's need to add more aerodynamic load to the car in order to gain a foothold in the midfield.

"The positive is the feedback we've had from Daniel so far does confirm our sort of general direction, we need more downforce.

"He said, like we all know, we were just lacking a little bit of downforce, relative to the top teams. But so far, he's not said specific big areas of weakness, as we understand that the car doesn't have any big problems, it's just we need a bit more load to be competitive."

Ricciardo's early second pitstop not only allowed him to undercut several drivers and salvage 13th after being stuck in traffic, but he explained the brief spell in clear air also give him much more information about what the car is capable of.

"Yeah, that was really important," Ricciardo said. "I think it would have been a much more probably discouraging race and maybe still a lot of questions to be answered.

"Just having the pace, having the clear air and making a few mistakes, learning from those, knowing what the car likes, what it doesn't.

"I think I learned a lot from the race."

Additional reporting by Matt Kew

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Alonso says Aston Martin fifth fastest F1 team after Hungarian GP

Next article Red Bull backs F1 engine equalisation move

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

25 min

Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc summoned to stewards after F1 Brazilian GP

Jorge Martin will be "almost 100% fit" in Portugal as heroic Qatar display keeps title hopes alive

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

1 h

Jorge Martin will be "almost 100% fit" in Portugal as heroic Qatar display keeps title hopes alive

Five quick takeaways from Brazilian GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

2 h

Five quick takeaways from Brazilian GP

Feature

Discover prime content

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts