Ricciardo and VCARB keeping realistic despite high outside expectations

Daniel Ricciardo says fans got overexcited about how competitive Visa Cash App RB could be this season and that it hasn’t latched onto the top five teams. VCARB – then known as AlphaTauri – finished 2023 strongly with a heavily updated car, scoring 20 of its 25 points in the final five rounds to fall just short of overhauling Williams for seventh place. That form raised expectations for 2024, with rival teams fearing a carbon copy of the dominant RB19 being used, but Ricciardo says that was never the reality. “I would say I think people got excited from let’s say the outside, fans, got excited,” Ricciardo said. “I think they thought we were going to be a different version of another car from the past but it’s not that, it isn’t that – I think there was the rumors and a bit of excitement it was going to be, but it’s certainly not. “But we’re trying to make the most of what we’ve got, we’ve definitely developed the car from last year. It’s hard, because we brought updates in Abu Dhabi so we’re comparing it to a car that had fresh updates, if we compare it to the car the race before Abu Dhabi it looks like we’ve made a bigger step, but it’s just an evolution of that. “Some gains here and there but still if we want to be sure to fight for Q3s and top 10s there’s certainly still going to be a bit more to find. But say that realistically. I don’t say that pessimistically, just realistically.” Ricciardo says the pre-season test in Bahrain was still a positive one for VCARB even if the top five of Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin appear out of reach. “I think it’s been good. There was that issue in the morning on track with the drain and we were worried we wouldn’t get our race run in so, luckily we got that in, did some short run stuff night and on Day 1 and then the race sim more or less on the last day, so plenty of laps. “I feel good, feel fit. I think in terms of performance, yeah, we’re as expected, we’re trying to fight in that midfield group, I think there’s definitely work to do to catch the front guys, but that’s no surprise, but I think it was a pretty smooth test. I don’t think we leave here with any concerns or scratching our heads, I think we know where we are and we’ve got to keep working for here.”