Helmut Marko brands Daniel Ricciardo ‘a good recommendation’ for Red Bull after he out-qualified Sergio Perez at Mexico

The Australian Daniel Ricciardo has been performing very well with his AT04 at the Mexican weekend and has outperformed the dominant RB19 driver Sergio Perez.

Helmut Marko brands Daniel Ricciardo ‘a good recommendation’ for Red Bull after he out-qualified Sergio Perez at Mexico

Helmut Marko (L) and Daniel Ricciardo (R) (via IMAGO)

The Australian veteran Daniel Ricciardo has performed very well at the Mexican qualifying session. Ricciardo qualified in P4, ahead of the Mexican driver Sergio Perez in P5 at his home GP. After sitting out for five consecutive races due to a hand injury, Ricciardo’s winning form seems to be back at the Mexico City GP.

Dr. Helmut Marko, advisor at Red Bull, has shared his piece of mind over the Aussie’s qualifying result. Marko claimed that Daniel Ricciardo juiced out every bit of performance from the AT04 of the Alphatauri. He also labeled the Australian as a good recommendation for the future seat in Red Bull as he out-qualified the Austrian outfit racer Sergio Perez on his home soil. Ricciardo is already rumored to be a potential option to replace Checo.

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He [Daniel Ricciardo] got everything out of it. It’s a great comeback after his hand injury, and a good recommendation for the future

Marko told Sky Sports Germany.

Following a mediocre P15 finish at the US GP, the 34-year-old Daniel Ricciardo had claimed that he was still very hungry for better results. He proclaimed his confidence in the Alphatauri’s machinery and hoped for an under-ten finish in the qualifying. Ricciardo has, hence, fared well on this claim.

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Ricciardo’s P4 finish has been a stark contrast to his Japanese counterpart, Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda failed to clear Q2 and ended up qualifying P15 in the Mexican Qualifying session. The Japanese racer faced a lot of issues with his car in comparison to Ricciardo’s amazing performance.

Why does the AT04 favor the Mexican circuit?

The upgrades that AlphaTauri has been bringing to the AT04 in the late season seem to be working in the drivers’ favor. Yuki Tsunoda has stated that the car is performing very well in the slow corners of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit. This boost in performance is also evident by the P4 qualifying result of Ricciardo.

Alphatauri AT04 at Mexico City Gp
Alphatauri AT04 at the Mexican GP (Credit: XPB Images)

Franz Tost said that the addition of a new underbody and new brake ducts to the car had helped the car to extract more pace. The team also experimented with the front wing a bit at the Mexican circuit, and it seemed to work well. However, they opted for the variant with the most downforce for the qualifying session.


The current results of the Alphatauri drivers have satisfied Tost, and it seems that everything is working out in their favor. Daniel Ricciardo, starting P4 tomorrow, is showing promising pace and might just score a podium after a long battle to be at the top spot. The Honey Badger also claimed that he was feeling good.

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