Ex-McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley claims Daniel Ricciardo’s arrival at AlphaTauri has put Yuki Tsunoda “in a bit of trouble”.
Pierre Gasly’s winter departure to Alpine saw Nyck de Vries partner Tsunoda at AlphaTauri, but his struggles resulted in him being axed only 10 races into his rookie campaign.
Tsunoda comprehensively defeated the Dutchman, paving the way for Daniel Ricciardo to return to Formula 1 after being dropped by McLaren at the end of 2022.
Ricciardo, who has vocally expressed hope of going back to the Red Bull senior team, immediately had the upper hand on his younger team-mate in his first AlphaTauri outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Priestly believes the swiftness with which Ricciardo has got up to speed in the AT04 car could spell trouble for Tsunoda’s career through the remainder of this year.
“I actually personally think that he’s in a bit of trouble here,” Priestley told the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast. “Because I think Daniel Ricciardo is actually very, very strong already in that car.
“The only reason Daniel Ricciardo was languishing at the back [in Belgium] was that moment in qualifying where he stepped over track limits and lost his lap time.
“Clearly, that’s his own fault, that was a mistake, but it put him on the back foot and he didn’t manage to get through that train of cars.
“I think you put the two of them next to each other on a clear bit of track in the same car, I think Daniel Ricciardo is showing signs of winning every time and that’s got to be a worry for Tsunoda.
“You know how brutal that Red Bull family can be if you’re not living up to expectations so that’s one to keep an eye on in the second half of the season.”
Despite being beaten at the Hungaroring, Tsunoda responded admirably in Belgium to secure a point for the Faenza-based side.
Former Williams reserve driver Jack Aitken argues that the Japanese racer’s showing at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit demonstrates he’s recovered the lost momentum.
“He really put in a strong performance and by contrast, Daniel Ricciardo had a pretty torrid race, not entirely through his own fault,” the Brit addressed.
“Daniel’s come in and instantly hit the ground running. He had a really solid first performance and you could almost see that the team were gravitating around him already as a more experienced driver, the guy that’s been there done it before.
“There were question marks over Yuki for a while now with his future within the Red Bull franchise, let’s say between them and AlphaTauri.
“It was all going the wrong way for Yuki before this race and he’s clawed a bit of that back now.”
