2023 Scuderia AlphaTauri F1 Team

[runningmanz]

Hyperbole much!

Clearly the team believe quality and detail of his feedback is far superior to his predecessors, including Yuki.

Yeah I don't get the salt from some here, it's not just "Australian" media saying this. Also Renault praised him for his feedback and dev assistance, RBR and now AT. No point being bitter about it. It's facts, take it onboard and give him some credit. The teams are not stupid..

Well, you are right, but we need to put "dev" into the right context...you still do not develop a car by driver feedback, you "just" set it up. I think this is one of the major strength that RedBull has and AT lacked: You go into FP1 with a semi-optimal setup and the driver needs to give feedback on how to improve. After some minor tweaks for FP2 the guys in the sim use this feedback and work out a better setup for Sat. I think this is where we see a lot of "development".
And this makes a difference...in Japan AT was again surprisingly good in FP...similar to Stroll or the Alfa. Then come Saturday they drop back. And that was even not as bad as before...

By the way:
I think it is very interesting what Horner just said about Lawson...if you read the obvious between the lines...
- He will drive for them in 25 (and certainly not for Williams).
- He will not drive against Verstappen.
- They want Yuki to develop under Ric

Means the planned AT pairing for 25 is Law + Tsu.

I think you need to go back and look at what Renault said about Ricciardo for a start in how he helped develop that car. Cyril said he was instrumental in that and changing the teams fortunes. He has garnered praise for both his setup work and car development from various teams over the years as previously mentioned.

[djos]

.
Yeah I don't get the salt from some here, it's not just "Australian" media saying this. Also Renault praised him for his feedback and dev assistance, RBR and now AT. No point being bitter about it. It's facts, take it onboard and give him some credit. The teams are not stupid..

.
Jonathan Eddolls has praised Yuki several times regarding, among other things, his good feedback on the car and the tire strategy.
Nobody on the pit wall did anything with that and now they would suddenly do that with Ricciardo?!
This is only a statement because RB (SAT) has received a lot of criticism for appointing an "old" driver who was fired from McLaren
due to his poor performance in place of the young, high-performing rookie Liam Lawson.

When Ricciardo still drove for RBR, he very often took over Max's setup and he said himself that he had little knowledge
of technical matters relating to the car. He was amazed at how much Max knew about everything and could give such good feedback.

I don't think you are giving Dan enough credit. While he might not have been the most technical guy he knows what a good car should handle like and can steer development in the right direction. Renault even praised Dan for his help developing the car which improved alot with Dan's input esp in 2020.

""It's not also a necessity, let's be honest, as I'm not fighting for any championship as we stand here right now. It would make absolutely no sense, and Daniel will be involved in the development process of the car."

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/renau ... 2/4981642/

“I think there is no doubt about the progression of the team this year. It’s very much a credit to Daniel who’s been clearly leading the charge of the team and behind him a group of people and a group of mechanics and engineers who are doing a remarkable job on track.

“Off-track, obviously we know Daniel is a great ambassador, is a team leader. He has clearly been instrumental to the changes that we’ve done last year when we had altogether a disappointing season.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/renault-p ... -ricciardo

Even Red Bull talked about his valuable input again recently

"Waterhouse went on to reveal how Daniel Ricciardo’s unique position within the team allows him to contribute significantly during simulation sessions.

The Australian driver possesses valuable insights into the preferences and requirements of Red Bull’s drivers when it comes to car setups."

https://formula1news.co.uk/red-bull-rev ... gio-perez/

Ricciardo taught Max how to setup an F1 car.

"Max Verstappen says he is “still guessing” how to set up his Red Bull Formula 1 car and is relying on teammate Daniel Ricciardo while he builds experience with the team."
Asked whether he is leaning on Ricciardo for this, Verstappen replied: “Definitely. He has a lot of experience.

https://racer.com/2016/06/09/verstappen ... ar-set-up/

Jos talked about how Ricciardo was Verstappens best teammate and taught him alot while they were together too.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/146804/j ... mmate.html

Let's not let the facts get in the way of a nice negative narrative!

[djos]

Yeah I don't get the salt from some here, it's not just "Australian" media saying this. Also Renault praised him for his feedback and dev assistance, RBR and now AT. No point being bitter about it. It's facts, take it onboard and give him some credit. The teams are not stupid..

Well, you are right, but we need to put "dev" into the right context...you still do not develop a car by driver feedback, you "just" set it up. I think this is one of the major strength that RedBull has and AT lacked: You go into FP1 with a semi-optimal setup and the driver needs to give feedback on how to improve. After some minor tweaks for FP2 the guys in the sim use this feedback and work out a better setup for Sat. I think this is where we see a lot of "development".
And this makes a difference...in Japan AT was again surprisingly good in FP...similar to Stroll or the Alfa. Then come Saturday they drop back. And that was even not as bad as before...

By the way:
I think it is very interesting what Horner just said about Lawson...if you read the obvious between the lines...
- He will drive for them in 25 (and certainly not for Williams).
- He will not drive against Verstappen.
- They want Yuki to develop under Ric

Means the planned AT pairing for 25 is Law + Tsu.

I think you need to go back and look at what Renault said about Ricciardo for a start in how he helped develop that car. Cyril said he was instrumental in that and changing the teams fortunes. He has garnered praise for both his setup work and car development from various teams over the years as previously mentioned.

Indeed, the only team that ignored his feedback (and Lando's) was McLaren - I put that down to James key thinking he knew better than his drivers and top aero guy (PP).

[runningmanz]

.
Jonathan Eddolls has praised Yuki several times regarding, among other things, his good feedback on the car and the tire strategy.
Nobody on the pit wall did anything with that and now they would suddenly do that with Ricciardo?!
This is only a statement because RB (SAT) has received a lot of criticism for appointing an "old" driver who was fired from McLaren
due to his poor performance in place of the young, high-performing rookie Liam Lawson.

When Ricciardo still drove for RBR, he very often took over Max's setup and he said himself that he had little knowledge
of technical matters relating to the car. He was amazed at how much Max knew about everything and could give such good feedback.

I don't think you are giving Dan enough credit. While he might not have been the most technical guy he knows what a good car should handle like and can steer development in the right direction. Renault even praised Dan for his help developing the car which improved alot with Dan's input esp in 2020.

""It's not also a necessity, let's be honest, as I'm not fighting for any championship as we stand here right now. It would make absolutely no sense, and Daniel will be involved in the development process of the car."

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/renau ... 2/4981642/

“I think there is no doubt about the progression of the team this year. It’s very much a credit to Daniel who’s been clearly leading the charge of the team and behind him a group of people and a group of mechanics and engineers who are doing a remarkable job on track.

“Off-track, obviously we know Daniel is a great ambassador, is a team leader. He has clearly been instrumental to the changes that we’ve done last year when we had altogether a disappointing season.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/renault-p ... -ricciardo

Even Red Bull talked about his valuable input again recently

"Waterhouse went on to reveal how Daniel Ricciardo’s unique position within the team allows him to contribute significantly during simulation sessions.

The Australian driver possesses valuable insights into the preferences and requirements of Red Bull’s drivers when it comes to car setups."

https://formula1news.co.uk/red-bull-rev ... gio-perez/

Ricciardo taught Max how to setup an F1 car.

"Max Verstappen says he is “still guessing” how to set up his Red Bull Formula 1 car and is relying on teammate Daniel Ricciardo while he builds experience with the team."
Asked whether he is leaning on Ricciardo for this, Verstappen replied: “Definitely. He has a lot of experience.

https://racer.com/2016/06/09/verstappen ... ar-set-up/

Jos talked about how Ricciardo was Verstappens best teammate and taught him alot while they were together too.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/146804/j ... mmate.html

Let's not let the facts get in the way of a nice negative narrative!

Yeah and there is actually a long list of facts that can be provided to be honest

[runningmanz]

Well, you are right, but we need to put "dev" into the right context...you still do not develop a car by driver feedback, you "just" set it up. I think this is one of the major strength that RedBull has and AT lacked: You go into FP1 with a semi-optimal setup and the driver needs to give feedback on how to improve. After some minor tweaks for FP2 the guys in the sim use this feedback and work out a better setup for Sat. I think this is where we see a lot of "development".
And this makes a difference...in Japan AT was again surprisingly good in FP...similar to Stroll or the Alfa. Then come Saturday they drop back. And that was even not as bad as before...

By the way:
I think it is very interesting what Horner just said about Lawson...if you read the obvious between the lines...
- He will drive for them in 25 (and certainly not for Williams).
- He will not drive against Verstappen.
- They want Yuki to develop under Ric

Means the planned AT pairing for 25 is Law + Tsu.

I think you need to go back and look at what Renault said about Ricciardo for a start in how he helped develop that car. Cyril said he was instrumental in that and changing the teams fortunes. He has garnered praise for both his setup work and car development from various teams over the years as previously mentioned.

Indeed, the only team that ignored his feedback (and Lando's) was McLaren - I put that down to James key thinking he knew better than his drivers and top aero guy (PP).

Yeah it seems that odd car philosophy was locked in to an extent from way back in the Alonso McLaren days which they often talked about until the total overhaul and redesign once Stella took control.

[organic]

I think the idea that he lacks in some ways is partly down to what he himself has said..

“It’s funny because my mates will say ‘dude, you’re driving these multi-million dollar cars with the most technology, the most advanced machinery, pretty much, in the world and yet you might know how to change a spark plug, you might know how to take off your tyre…but I like that’,”

“I like not really knowing a whole lot. I like investing more of my energy into the driving and I like just being a little bit blase about it all.

“It makes me approach it with a bit more of a carefree attitude and I think that helps me drive better, perform better and take the pressure off it.”

However, that lack of in-depth technical knowhow does not prevent Ricciardo from providing his team – currently McLaren with whom he is entering a second season – with the feedback required to try and make his car faster.

“Where I’m good with my driving? Feedback,” said Ricciardo. “I think I’m really good at feeling what the car does and relaying that back to the team. So that’s probably as technically sound as I get, but otherwise I’m not really one [for that].”

“Technically with Formula One and the car, I understand probably the best part of nothing,” he told Party Casino.

“Yeah. Not ashamed to say it.”

Gesturing towards his McLaren at its headquarters in Woking, he said: “I have no idea what I’m looking at.”

“My job is to drive, and that’s it. So I then just put all my energy into that.”

“If you’re a driver that overthinks a lot and is maybe a little bit OCD, maybe you’re changing settings every corner,” he said.

“You’re like, ‘Oh I need that now, and that now, and now the tyres are changing so I need to do this’.

“So you can kind of use the wheel to that extent or you can just adapt through your driving a bit more and not worry about changing so much.”

This approach seems very different to most of the successful drivers in recent history in F1.

[djos]

I think the idea that he lacks in some ways is partly down to what he himself has said..

“It’s funny because my mates will say ‘dude, you’re driving these multi-million dollar cars with the most technology, the most advanced machinery, pretty much, in the world and yet you might know how to change a spark plug, you might know how to take off your tyre…but I like that’,”

“I like not really knowing a whole lot. I like investing more of my energy into the driving and I like just being a little bit blase about it all.

“It makes me approach it with a bit more of a carefree attitude and I think that helps me drive better, perform better and take the pressure off it.”

However, that lack of in-depth technical knowhow does not prevent Ricciardo from providing his team – currently McLaren with whom he is entering a second season – with the feedback required to try and make his car faster.

“Where I’m good with my driving? Feedback,” said Ricciardo. “I think I’m really good at feeling what the car does and relaying that back to the team. So that’s probably as technically sound as I get, but otherwise I’m not really one [for that].”

“Technically with Formula One and the car, I understand probably the best part of nothing,” he told Party Casino.

“Yeah. Not ashamed to say it.”

Gesturing towards his McLaren at its headquarters in Woking, he said: “I have no idea what I’m looking at.”

“My job is to drive, and that’s it. So I then just put all my energy into that.”

“If you’re a driver that overthinks a lot and is maybe a little bit OCD, maybe you’re changing settings every corner,” he said.

“You’re like, ‘Oh I need that now, and that now, and now the tyres are changing so I need to do this’.

“So you can kind of use the wheel to that extent or you can just adapt through your driving a bit more and not worry about changing so much.”

This approach seems very different to most of the successful drivers in recent history in F1.

I think you misunderstand how modern drivers operate, Daniel can read the data traces as well as the next F1 driver. Just because he doesn’t concern himself with technical details like spring and damping rates, doesn’t make him unique.

[Wouter]

I think the idea that he lacks in some ways is partly down to what he himself has said..

..........

.
I think you misunderstand how modern drivers operate, Daniel can read the data traces as well as the next F1 driver.
Just because he doesn’t concern himself with technical details like spring and damping rates, doesn’t make him unique.

.
Ricciardo has told Max in one of the numerous interviews he has done with Max in the past that he has no idea what parts
are all in an F1 car and when the engine cover is off he cannot tell and point out what something is called.
He himself has admitted to having very little technical knowledge and thought Max learned all that while karting,
which is true. Max took the whole kart and engine apart when he was less than ten years old.
He knows with every strange noise where it is coming from the car.
Ricciardo admired that very much and said that he himself is not interested in engineering, he has a team for that,
he just wants to drive.

[djos]

I think the idea that he lacks in some ways is partly down to what he himself has said..

.
I think you misunderstand how modern drivers operate, Daniel can read the data traces as well as the next F1 driver.
Just because he doesn’t concern himself with technical details like spring and damping rates, doesn’t make him unique.

.
Ricciardo has told Max in one of the numerous interviews he has done with Max in the past that he has no idea what parts
are all in an F1 car and when the engine cover is off he cannot tell and point out what something is called.
He himself has admitted to having very little technical knowledge and thought Max learned all that while karting,
which is true. Max took the whole kart and engine apart when he was less than ten years old.
He knows with every strange noise where it is coming from the car.
Ricciardo admired that very much and said that he himself is not interested in engineering, he has a team for that,
he just wants to drive.

It’s not his job to know how a car is built, it’s his job to drive the car and tell the engineers what handling characteristics he needs to drive faster.

Some of you guys really have no idea what an F1 driver actually does and how they contribute to the team.

[Wouter]

.
I think you misunderstand how modern drivers operate, Daniel can read the data traces as well as the next F1 driver.
Just because he doesn’t concern himself with technical details like spring and damping rates, doesn’t make him unique.

.
Ricciardo has told Max in one of the numerous interviews he has done with Max in the past that he has no idea what parts
are all in an F1 car and when the engine cover is off he cannot tell and point out what something is called.
He himself has admitted to having very little technical knowledge and thought Max learned all that while karting,
which is true. Max took the whole kart and engine apart when he was less than ten years old.
He knows with every strange noise where it is coming from the car.
Ricciardo admired that very much and said that he himself is not interested in engineering, he has a team for that,
he just wants to drive.

.
It’s not his job to know how a car is built, it’s his job to drive the car and tell the engineers what handling characteristics he needs to drive faster.

Some of you guys really have no idea what an F1 driver actually does and how they contribute to the team.

.
I know. I'm stupid!

[djos]

.
Ricciardo has told Max in one of the numerous interviews he has done with Max in the past that he has no idea what parts
are all in an F1 car and when the engine cover is off he cannot tell and point out what something is called.
He himself has admitted to having very little technical knowledge and thought Max learned all that while karting,
which is true. Max took the whole kart and engine apart when he was less than ten years old.
He knows with every strange noise where it is coming from the car.
Ricciardo admired that very much and said that he himself is not interested in engineering, he has a team for that,
he just wants to drive.

.
It’s not his job to know how a car is built, it’s his job to drive the car and tell the engineers what handling characteristics he needs to drive faster.

Some of you guys really have no idea what an F1 driver actually does and how they contribute to the team.

.
I know. I'm stupid!

I never said that. However, a little research wouldn’t hurt.

[Wouter]

I never said that. However, a little research wouldn’t hurt.

.

[Farnborough]

.
It’s not his job to know how a car is built, it’s his job to drive the car and tell the engineers what handling characteristics he needs to drive faster.

Some of you guys really have no idea what an F1 driver actually does and how they contribute to the team.

.
I know. I'm stupid!

I never said that. However, a little research wouldn’t hurt.

Its an interesting and involved topic, notably different for each driver, along with their interactions with the team......of experts in their field to solve, advance and contain various challenges throughout the development, race, setup etc.

A good example is DC, whom I believe describes himself as very low on real technical knowledge...relaying stories of his not knowing what the mechanics were doing in working on his car.

His greatest attribute in this area, I believe also fully appreciated by AN in car development too, is to tell the team exactly what is happening in regard to what the chassis is doing while pushing it. That's complete, undiluted, brutal and finitely straight comparison when they test and set chassis etc. This, one of the most extremely valuable parts of feedback loop an engineering team can get. Crucial is no dilution or interpretation, just straight, dispassionate detail....this change does this, or absolutely nothing type feed in to team.
Depending on the team, they dont necessarily need someone that thinks they know how to fix compromised design.

How they then respond is demonstrated on where they sit in comparison to their competitors.

[organic]

Helmut Marko quote confirming Lawson will have a permanent seat for 2025 (latest):

"With the role as reserve driver, he has a big task next year. But by 2025, at the latest, he'll be sitting permanently in a Formula 1 car anyway."

And other praise

"Lawson certainly has the potential to be a GP winner, as he has mastered all the tasks so far masterfully and under the most difficult conditions."

"He's a tough racer and one of the strongest drivers ever in a duel."

https://www.kleinezeitung.at/sport/moto ... wson-sitzt

[Wouter]

Ricciardo will be back in Austin. (This was on Monday.)