Helmut Marko has given his initial thoughts of Daniel Ricciardo’s first day in the AlphaTauri, as the Australian driver made his return at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Friday marked the first time Ricciardo was back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car during a grand prix weekend since late November.
It was announced last week that the eight-time race winner would replace Nyck de Vries for the remainder of the season following a successful Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone.
With the rain coming down, the first free practice session at the Hungaroring turned into a washout, with no representative times set.
As the second practice session remained dry, Ricciardo clocked the 14th fastest time, while his new teammate Yuki Tsunoda found himself up in fourth, four tenths clear of the Australian.
Talking to Motorsport Magazin, Marko assessed Ricciardo’s return. “He did okay.
“In the long runs, he was closer [to Tsunoda] but in the short runs, it was still lacking a bit.”
The Austrian also touched upon the mixed up order, which saw the likes of both Red Bulls and Mercedes a long way down the timing sheets.
“In the long run, we were clearly the fastest, it was very encouraging but it was not as convincing as it normally is.
“On a single lap, we still have to improve some things and we were not fast enough, we have to fight for it more.
“We have another practice session, and I hope we can solve our problems there.”
