In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo says qualifying was his “Achilles’ heel” in 2023 return
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In brief
Qualifying my “Achilles’ heel” during return – Ricciardo
AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo says his qualifying performances were a weakness during his return to the grid in the second half of 2023.
Veteran Ricciardo lost his qualifying battle with team mate Yuki Tsunoda by 4-3 in the seven rounds he competed in, being eliminated from Q1 twice in Belgium and Brazil and reaching Q3 just once in Mexico.
“If I look at Brazil and [Abu Dhabi], qualifying was kind of the Achilles’ heel,” he said. “And I’ll take some responsibility for that – not maybe putting the best lap together.
“Obviously Brazil, we [fell] a lap down, but actually our pace in the race, I think we could have [been] well inside the points. Obviously these are ifs and buts and maybes, but the pace is there and it’s just really probably just sorting out the one-lap pace. Other than Mexico and a couple others, there’s a lot to be encouraged about.”
Vasseur forbids ‘what ifs’ at Ferrari
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur says his team are forbidden from lamenting where they lost second place in the constructors’ championship to Mercedes.
The team were beaten to the runners-up spot in the championship by just three points. Asked how many points he would see Ferrari having scored in an ideal season without setbacks, Vasseur said he refused to entertain the notion.
“I hate to race with ‘ifs’,” he said. “Because everybody can race with ‘if’ and do a better job. This is completely forbidden at the factory, to work with ‘if’.
“It’s not to find an excuse at all, because it’s our fault. It’s not that we are saying that ‘if this…’ – it’s where we are. Where we have to improve and so on. It’s clearly a huge potential in terms of points.”
Verstappen joins Broadbent’s charity simrace
Newly-crowned three times Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is competing in a charity endurance simracing event organised by popular simracing personality Jimmy Broadbent.
Verstappen is sharing the #420 car which, at time of…
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