Austrian Grand Prix: Daniel Ricciardo marking a personal F1 milestone this weekend

Following a difficult weekend in Barcelona, Yuki Tsunoda and company are aiming for bigger things in Austria

The 2024 Spanish Grand Prix was a weekend to forget for Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.

Can they bounce back in Austria?

After an eighth-place finish at the Canadian Grand Prix from Daniel Ricciardo added four more points to the team’s account in Montreal, VCARB brought a host of upgrades to Barcelona for last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. But instead of improved performance, the team left Barcelona without anything to show for their efforts, beyond reams of data and more questions to answer. Now the team is hopeful that the Styrian hills offer more fertile ground for progress, and points.

“I like the Red Bull Ring and I enjoy the place itself and the surrounding countryside as I love nature. I also like the food, especially the Schnitzel! It’s a home track for the Red Bull family, so I hope we can perform well. It’s another Sprint weekend so we only get the one hour of Free Practice, after which every session counts for something,” said Yuki Tsunoda in the team’s media preview. “I know everyone has been working very hard back in the factory to understand why we had such a difficult time in Spain and hopefully, we can make up for it this weekend.”

I mean, who doesn’t love a good schnitzel?

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo noted that this weekend will mark a milestone in his Formula 1 journey while teasing a corresponding theme helmet for the weekend.

“I’ve got many reasons to be excited about Austria: it’s my 250th F1 Grand Prix, which is pretty wild,” said Ricciardo. “I’m going to run a special helmet design for this weekend, which should be fun and it’s a home race for Red Bull, at the Red Bull Ring, so there’s always a lot of support there. It’s good for the team, for the brand, it’s a special one.

“We’ll be looking to try and turn things around after Barcelona. We don’t have much time as it’s a Sprint weekend with only one practice, so we really must hit the ground running. We’re ready for it!”

VCARB Sporting Director Alan Permane noted that the team faces a quick turnaround, as the Austrian Grand Prix marks the middle race of an F1 tripleheader. That poses a unique challenge for the entire organization, and with this being an F1 Sprint Race weekend, VCARB will need to be “perfect” out of the gate.

“This week most of the team stays on the road and goes directly to Spielberg in Austria for the second race of this triple header sequence. It’s a special race for the Red Bull family and we are looking forward to racing in the beautiful Styrian countryside,” said Permane. “The circuit is a demanding one for both car and driver with long straights, heavy braking but also some very high-speed corners. It’s a Sprint weekend, so our preparation will need to be perfect. Pirelli will bring the softest [tires] in their range and one of the challenges will be to extract the most out of all three compounds over one lap during Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon.”