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Daniel Ricciardo joked that there were no 'extracurricular reasons' why AlphaTauri struggled in Las Vegas. The team were in a rich vein of form heading into the Las Vegas GP.
The race in Brazil was particularly impressive as the car was seemingly even better than Mercedes that weekend. In the race in Mexico, Daniel Ricciardo qualified in P4 in the AlphaTauri and scored six points after finishing seventh.
Teammate Yuki Tsunoda was also in contention in the race before his incident with Oscar Piastri. But coming to Las Vegas, Ricciardo said it was a challenge to get the 'tyres working' and in the 'right window' on a 'tricky' track, and the AlphaTauri ultimately failed to match the competitiveness of the other cars around it.
In the end, neither Daniel Ricciardo nor Yuki Tsunoda could fight for points. When questioned about the underwhelming performance in the race, the Australian said that it was down to the team lacking a little in terms of performance rather than the 'extracurricular' reasons in Las Vegas.
During the press conference leading up to the Abu Dhabi GP, he said:
"I was going to answer it not seriously, but I'll answer it seriously. We just missed a little bit. We took the weekend very seriously. No, there were no extracurricular reasons why we didn't perform. Now, we did some analysis post-race, a little bit more today. I think we know, let's say, the fundamental reasons or things that we maybe got wrong."
The Aussie, who finished 14th in Las Vegas, added:
"But yeah, it was tricky. Obviously, it's a new track for everyone, it's a street circuit. It was really the asphalt and the temperatures. I think that was obviously something that was a bit of a challenge, to get on top of it and to get the tyres working and in the right window.
"And that's ultimately where we struggled. So then, during the race, the race starts, the restarts, I felt like we were just sliding a little more than the others. And that put us on the back foot a lot."
Daniel Ricciardo hopeful of a better weekend at Abu Dhabi GP
Daniel Ricciardo was optimistic about the final race weekend in Abu Dhabi as he felt that the track was more conventional in nature and hence, would entail different, perhaps more favorable, challenges. He said:
"Yeah, one does [if he fancies his chances in Abu Dhabi]. I think it's more conventional. Again, hopefully that speed we showed in the triple-header can be put on display again, in a more standard circuit. Yeah, so I'm confident."
AlphaTauri are only seven points shy of Willaims heading into the final race of the season. The Australian will be hoping to help the team secure P7 in the standings this season.
