Ricciardo reveals F1 STAR who improved him at AlphaTauri after McLaren errors

Daniel Ricciardo has said he was ‘searching too much’ at McLaren but has worked on his skills for his new role at AlphaTauri.

The former Red Bull and McLaren driver has spoken about the tricky time he went through in his final months with the latter, before rejoining Red Bull as a reserve driver.

He was recently announced as a shock replacement for Nyck de Vries, an F1 rookie who was dropped from AlphaTauri after just 10 races.

Ricciardo worked on his skills during his time after from the grid, and feels that the break brought something helpful to his offering for AlphaTauri.

Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, he said: “During the first season at McLaren, at the summer break, I felt I had to do something different.

“I was searching a little too much and had to change the tackling and then I felt I had to do something different. Looking back, I tried a little too much, but maybe that will work for another driver. It is what it is."

He credited Yuki Tsunoda, his new team-mate, as helping his form, saying: "I definitely worked on some things and Yuki was an excellent frame of reference for me.”

He added: “It allowed me to see where the car could be driven at the limit and where not, the engineers showed me.

“There was learning to be done, but they also wanted to see how I was driving the car. I steered the car in a natural way and then we went from there to see how we would continue things.”

READ MORE: Verstappen handed GRID PENALTY for Belgian Grand Prix

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