The times that show how good Ricciardo's F1 return really was

It was nearly the most underwhelming ending to a story that had captivated the Formula 1 news cycle for nearly two weeks. Daniel Ricciardo back racing at the top level of single-seaters, replacing the ousted Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.

Having launched well enough at the start of the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, he’d got around the slow-starting Zhou Guanyu and was racing along with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Approaching the braking zone for Turn 1, Ocon swung ahead as they prepared to take the right-hander all together – a pack of eager puppies romping carefree and seemingly, charmingly unaware of the danger arriving quickly as left foots were sharply pressed.

A tiny knock nearly did it. Zhou, having missed his braking point following his shocking, supposedly braking-system-problem-caused start, hit the rear of the AT04 Ricciardo now calls his. That sent the Australian forwards and into Ocon, another small tap at the front having big consequences for the Alpine squad overall.

Ricciardo had to reengage his clutch and struggled to pull away from the scene of the crash, Ocon getting back ahead before slowing as they tentatively made their way to Turn 2 and it became clear the Alpine’s rear suspension was broken. AlphaTauri, meanwhile, checked Ricciardo’s aerodynamic loads for signs of similar terminal damage.

By Turn 11 he was informed "loads look ok" and he took up a position at the rear of the pack – behind Williams driver Logan Sargeant. Still there two laps later, Ricciardo was satisfied "I think the car is ok", and his problem changed from surviving to thriving.

“There was a little bit of damage on the back of the diffuser,” he later reported. “But the team said it was pretty much ok. And it felt ok. So, I'd love to say I could have gone on a second quicker, but I think the car is more or less fine.”

Fortunate to avoid serious damage in his Turn 1 tangle with Zhou that pushed him into Ocon, Ricciardo took up position at the tail of the field

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

The remarkably undamaged AT04 was still stuck behind Sargeant on lap 13 of 70, when the Williams pitted for the first time. This was Ricciardo’s first chance to run in clear air and it marked a turning point for his race.

“I was kind of just stuck behind a bit of a train with Sergeant,” he explained. “I just knew in dirty air, even with these new cars this circuit is definitely a hard one to follow. They pitted quite early, and as soon as they did, I felt like, ‘oh, the grip coming back in the tyre’. So, I thought, 'Ok, let's see what we can do in clear air'. And that was better.”

But then AlphaTauri pulled him in turn at the end of lap 18 to switch mediums for hards. Ricciardo thought that was “relatively early”, although it was in-line with the frontrunners also on the mediums bar dominant winner Max Verstappen. He was so fast he had the luxury of doing whatever he and Red Bull wanted, strategy-wise.

PLUS: How Verstappen's Hungary F1 qualifying pain was his race day gain

The pitstop put Ricciardo back into the train behind Sargeant and right at the back of the field. The undercut’s power was clear and by coming in five laps later, it was obvious a return to the status quo would follow.

He sounded slightly despondent afterwards, little of that trademark upbeat, chipper demeanour. But Hamelin made the key point: “A lot to look forward to”

Having recognised that, early in his second stint while running the hard tyres, Ricciardo suggested “let's have a think to give me clear air… because it's so hard to pass”. AlphaTauri acquiesced and soon requested his feedback for a final stint compound – the team indicating the mediums would be the best option. If he could keep them alive.

Ricciardo believed it was “both similar” with the harder compounds but reinforced again that “just clear air... makes a big difference on tyres”. Everything calm and measured over the radio.

On lap 29, AlphaTauri made its move – cutting short Ricciardo’s middle stint on the more durable rubber. It set him quite the challenge. First to be fast enough out of the pits to ward off a possible covering pitstop from Kevin Magnussen, at that point running two places ahead, then settle down and pull off a 40-lap final stint – the longest for any driver last Sunday.

After attacking the kerbs through the twisty second sector much harder than before, Ricciardo eased back when it was clear Haas wasn’t pulling Magnussen in – there’s no way that package can consider mammoth race stints. AlphaTauri, having examined both sets of Ricciardo’s tyres used to that part, then set up the remaining task.

AlphaTauri gave Ricciardo no small task in getting the medium tyre to do 40 laps, after the Australian noted the benefit of an undercut

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“Pace has been good and deg as been low,” Ricciardo was told by engineer Pierre Hamelin, who famously guided Pierre Gasly to the team’s most recent win in the 2020 Italian GP. “So, keep doing your things and we make it work.”

PLUS: Hamelin explains how "supernatural" adaption resurrected Gasly's F1 career

That he did. Ricciardo’s pace on the mediums was so strong he’d soon undercut Sargeant, Zhou, Nico Hulkenberg and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, and would remain a small chunk behind the Alex Albon/Valtteri Bottas battle on the wrong side of the points edge to the finish.

He sounded slightly despondent afterwards, little of that trademark upbeat, chipper demeanour. But Hamelin made the key point: “A lot to look forward to.” This was because of the manner in which Ricciardo delivered that final stint, which allowed him to finish ahead of Tsunoda – a feat de Vries only managed twice in 10 races before Helmut Marko’s axe came swinging.

This was a tyre management, thermal degradation race – the hot temperatures meaning there was a premium on avoiding rear locking and then sliding in the Hungaroring braking zones. The track’s plethora of low- and medium-speed corners require precision and stability to avoid stressing the rubber and sending additional heat into the tyre body, causing performance loss that is very hard for the drivers to recover. That all impacts how we should consider Ricciardo’s performance over his immense final stint challenge.

He was far from pushing flatout, but with little tangible reward on the table this was still an important time. He’d had no previous 2023 testing in this car and could now fully assess its race pace potential, even in circumstances that demanded strict tyre preservation driving.

AlphaTauri was quickly impressed, only suggesting early in his lengthy run to the flag that he would need to make adjustments to avoid rear locking at the first corner, which Ricciardo duly obliged. That got harder as the tyres wore, while on lap 39 Hamelin informed his charge another critical moment was upcoming.

He needed to avoid losing time passing Magnussen, by now circulating much slower on his ancient hards ahead but apparently with orders to hold up Ricciardo and allow Hulkenberg, who had just stopped for a set of that white-walled rubber, to close in and attack.

There was no hesitation. Ricciardo immediately headed into DRS range of the Haas and was unruffled with an easy pass using the overtaking aid as they ran down the pit straight on lap 40. “Very good,” came Hamelin’s feedback. “Now keep up the good work on the tyres. We try to make it work.”

The Hungarian GP was Ricciardo's first real opportunity to truly test the AlphaTauri and he turned in an impressive drive

Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images

AlphaTauri still didn’t know if its gamble would pay off. The rear locking was becoming more of an issue, while Ricciardo was also advised to brake earlier for Turn 5 and the chicane to have lower speed at those points, but critically less tyre stress through the technical complex to come. The same also became apparent for how he was tackling the final corner. Each time his response to feedback was calm and registered.

PLUS: Hungarian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2023

Heading into the final 15 laps – Ricciardo having informed AlphaTauri that if there was to be a late-race safety car he would need to pit as "the bite of a new tyre, there would probably be quite a big difference" – the situation remained stable. Ricciardo was still just adrift of Bottas but steadily pulling away from Hulkenberg.

AlphaTauri reckoned he had a touch too much understeer at this stage and advised a change to the steering wheel ‘tools’ that open and close the differential in response. Ricciardo made the change but soon reversed it, saying, “I'm gonna leave it for stability". Still the mediums remain remarkably unstressed.

Hungary was a good starting place for Ricciardo as the elevated downforce levels required on the twisty track meant AlphaTauri’s issues with corner entry stability were masked as the car was correspondingly more compliant

Verstappen made his second appearance to lap his former team-mate on lap 56 – the two times this occurred around the leader’s final stop the only reason why Ricciardo fell out of the metronomic pace in the 1m24s bracket he’d been able to hold since his second stop.

The rate at which Verstappen then pulled away really backs up Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff’s suggestion that “It’s like a field of Formula 2 cars against a Formula 1 [car]…” But for Ricciardo, with Hulkenberg behind being lapped by Lando Norris as well, AlphaTauri reckoned he could risk pushing “one step more if you think there is something in the tyres” over the five laps that remained.

He did, saying “I'll see if there's something left” and then reaching the 1m23s bracket and his personal best race lap with four tours left. This is a 1m23.934s set on 38-old mediums.

Overall final stint pace averages

Ricciardo reckons points were on offer if his start wasn't compromised, such was his pace in clean air even on aged medium tyres in the final stint

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

That stint length is critical in assessing Ricciardo’s pace in the table above. He heads the only driver to complete similar mileage, which is Albon, who also has the more robust tyre. In fact, Ricciardo is not too far off Lance Stroll’s pace in a much quicker Aston Martin. He’s got 0.1s in hand over Tsunoda, whose stint was 15 laps shorter.

He’d qualified ahead of the Japanese driver too – Ricciardo starting 13th to Tsunoda’s 17th, with the difference between them, other than the Q1 exit barrier, down to Ricciardo braking much later at Turn 1 and gaining 0.6s when comparing their quickest laps.

“I think if we stayed ahead and held position at the start, I believe we could have really fought for a points finish,” Ricciardo stated post-race, facing the media having pulled his AT04 up behind an APXGP Apple filming car in parc ferme. A cameo would be a fine memento for uncamera-shy 34-year-old.

Ricciardo’s pace and consistency on a tyre AlphaTauri wasn’t sure would make the finish was really impressive. He didn’t pull up to the Albon/Bottas battle (Ricciardo eventually finished 6.2s adrift) and had the benefit of clean air others didn’t. But that was his key call.

Also in his way of potential points surely would’ve been the Alpines too, had they not been bowled out of proceedings, but that hunger is exactly what Red Bull wants. And in delivering what Ricciardo did last Sunday he has surely shown Marko, who claimed de Vries “didn't do one super lap that really amazed us”, his decision has been vindicated. If one lap was all the Austria desired, one epic stint from Ricciardo could be all it takes to at least alleviate the inevitable Red Bull driver juggling pressure.

PLUS: The five challenges between Ricciardo and Perez's Red Bull F1 seat

Now, the challenge is backing that up. Hungary was a good starting place for Ricciardo as the elevated downforce levels required on the twisty track meant AlphaTauri’s issues with corner entry stability were masked as the car was correspondingly more compliant.

This weekend’s race in Spa is fast approaching and that layout will require much more of a compromised set-up, which could well expose the limitations Ricciardo struggled with at McLaren. But there is one thing Ricciardo does need to address fast there – for his own health benefit if nothing else.

“It was all pretty good,” Ricciardo said of his fitness levels post his first GP distance in eight months. “I felt like I probably didn't have enough drink in the car. So, other than being a little bit thirsty at the end...”

Ricciardo is showing the hunger Red Bull wanted to see, but will face different challenges this weekend at Spa

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images