RB F1's Ricciardo: New Upgrades Better Despite Critique

Ricciardo counters Tsunoda’s harsh views on RB F1’s latest car upgrades, hinting at improved performance.

At Monza, Yuki Tsunoda expressed deep disappointment with the upgrades RB F1 implemented on the VCARB 01. Daniel Ricciardo hasn’t driven with the complete package yet, but he believes abandoning the previous evolution of the car is still a good idea.

“Unless the team sees significant drawbacks, the plan is to run them in Baku,” Ricciardo stated. “Sometimes, what you can’t foresee is that on the track, it might generate more downforce, but perhaps it alters the balance and makes the car’s settings more delicate.”

“It could be that we haven’t managed to utilize all the grip, but it’s hard for me to say. I want to believe it can still be good because clearly, the last evolution wasn’t very successful for us.”

“I’d like to think this one is better, but clearly only Yuki has experience with it, and he said he had a tough weekend, so we’ll see. It’s something I’d really like to try and do at least one session to get a feel before saying it’s not right.”

Ricciardo is confident that the potential of this latest version is more promising, even though Tsunoda has been quite vocal. The Australian moderates the Japanese driver’s criticism by highlighting the other challenges encountered.

“We obviously have reasons to think it’s better, but I haven’t driven it, so I can’t say whether it is or isn’t, but it has been tricky. I think the combination of low downforce and new asphalt means it’s quite hard to find the grip and put in the laps.”