Visa Cash App RB F1 Team left Monza empty-handed after a frustrating weekend saw both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda finish outside the points, Tsunoda having retired early in the Italian Grand Prix following contact with Nico Hülkenberg.
Now the team has their sights set on the Baku City Circuit and, in Ricciardo’s mind, points.
“I’m looking forward to Baku, it’s a proper track and like any street circuit, you need to find the limits quickly,” said Ricciardo in the team’s media preview of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “I know the team in Faenza have been pushing hard and I’m eager to try the new floor this weekend. It’ll be a good challenge but I’m confident we can come away with some points.”
Ricciardo has experienced success in Azerbaijan before, including a win in the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. As for Tsunoda, he has a pair of points finishes, including a P7 during his rookie campaign and a P10 a season ago.
“I like the Baku street track and its unusual mix of a very long high speed section all the way from the final right hander down to Turn 1 and the really tight part through the old city,” said Tsunoda. “In the past, it has suited our car and I’ve finished in the points twice. The walls are close so you have to be very precise, although they have moved some of them back for this year and added openings to remove cars that stop on track, so maybe that reduces the chances of a Safety Car, which is usually quite common here. It’s a track that keeps you busy, with a very high number of gear changes, just like Singapore which is coming up next.”
VCARB Technical Director Jody Egginton outlined how the team will use the week to evaluate their upgraded floor, which debuted last time out at the Italian Grand Prix.
“Our test program for this race will be very busy because, in addition to the normal set up and tire work which we conduct at every event, we also have a number of important tests planned to learn more and optimise the cars around the new floor package which we first evaluated in Monza,” said Egginton. “In terms of the battle in the midfield, it remains very tight and we are staying focused on maximising what we can extract from our cars with the goal of fighting for points with both our drivers.”
Regarding that battle, VCARB currently holds a six-point lead over Haas in their fight for sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship. But given Riccardo and Tsunoda’s previous success in Baku — and young Oliver Bearman stepping in for Kevin Magnussen as the veteran serves a one-race penalty ban — this week is a true chance for VCARB to add some distance in that fight.