Helmut Marko gives his verdict on how Daniel Ricciardo compares to Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko recently compared Daniel Ricciardo to Yuki Tsunoda and how closely matched the two are as of now.

Ricciardo recently joined AlphaTauri from the 2023 F1 Hungarian GP, replacing Nyck de Vries, who was struggling to keep up in F1. Despite the Australian jumping immediately into an F1 car after a seven-month hiatus, he performed decently in his first two races in 2023.

Marko stated how a change in driver has had a positive effect on the Italian team's morale and mood. Furthermore, he revealed that the pace gap between Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda is smaller than it was between de Vries and the Japanese driver.

“The change [in driver lineup] has had a very positive effect, in terms of mood and motivation in the AlphaTauri team. While the gap of De Vries was on average three to five tenths, Ricciardo, if you adjust for all that, is significantly less, if not on par with Tsunoda,” he told Motorsport Magazin.

Helmut Marko further stated that there are nine races left in the 2023 F1 season, during which AlphaTauri will have a clearer picture of how Daniel Ricciardo fairs against Yuki Tsunoda.

Marko also praised the Japanese driver's performance at Spa but was quick to point out how Ricciardo was not far off.

“We have nine races left; in these nine races, we will watch how it develops. Tsunoda had a very good race in Spa; maybe in the middle sector when it was raining a bit too much, maybe he could have had a better result. Daniel was not far away from points in the sprint. This direction fits,” he added.

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Daniel Ricciardo felt familiar and comfortable after driving AlphaTauri AT04

Daniel Ricciardo struggled quite a lot at McLaren, as he was unable to compete with Lando Norris and produce good results. When he went back to his roots and joined AlphaTauri in the 2023 F1 Hungarian GP after a seven-month break, he experienced a familiar feeling that he was more comfortable with.

"On lap one [with AlphaTauri AT04], I already felt like I was getting kind of the feedback that maybe I would expect or like, so that was important," he told Motorsport.com.

"Maybe I'll find things that I've just got to work on that don't quite correlate to my feeling, so I expect still some may be challenges along the way. But the first impression was that it did give me a little bit more of a familiar feeling. That was also important because I was hoping to feel something like that," Ricciardo added.

Although Ricciardo has not scored any points in his first two F1 races in 2023, it is safe to say that he will soon get off the mark.