28 October 2023 , 22:41
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Daniel Ricciardo truly announced his return to Formula 1 by upstaging home hero Sergio Perez in Mexican Grand Prix qualifying.
The grandstands at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez were packed with vocal fans, most of whom were cheering on the Red Bull star from Guadalajara. But it could not inspire him to pole position, even if Max Verstappen was beaten by Charles Leclerc and his team-mate Carlos Sainz.
To make matters worse for Perez, he also went slower than Ricciardo who drivers for sister team AlphaTauri. It was only the Aussie's fourth qualifying session of the season so far, having sat out the first 10 races and then suffering an injury which sidelined him for another five.
But he managed to extract remarkable one-lap pace from his AlphaTauri to go fourth quickest in Q3. And his grid position may yet still improve with Verstappen, who was third fastest, under investigation.
Ricciardo's performance did not go unnoticed among fans on social media – nor did the fact he out-qualified Perez in the Red Bull sister team's car. "He's coming for that RB seat," said one impressed fan, referring to the speculation over the Mexican racer's future with the team.
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And plenty of others agreed. "I would be worried if I was Perez," wrote one fan, while another added: "At the Mexican GP too... that was a statement."
The result may well have proven AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost right, after he declared Ricciardo is back to his best despite having only raced once since recovering from his broken hand. "He's still in the period to speed up everything," the veteran team chief said.
"If you're out [of] Formula 1 and if you were injured, it takes time. And I said to Daniel from the beginning onwards, when he came to Austin, that Austin will become a difficult race, 'Don't care about this, just get used to the car, get familiar with everything.
"Mexico will be a similar challenge. I expect you will see the old Daniel, whom we know who can win races, in Sao Paulo, but it looks like that he is already here, on this level."
Ricciardo was helped to reach Q3 by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who was already condemned to a back-of-the-grid start after taking new engine components. So the Japanese racer spent qualifying giving his partner a tow which worked to good effect.