The subtle change that banished Ricciardo hoodoo

However, this approach has proved tricky for Ricciardo and hurt him during his two seasons at McLaren.

Ricciardo drives his AT04 differently from Tsunoda and other drivers who have previously stepped into the cockpit of an AlphaTauri.

In contrast to Ricciardo, they prefer a later-braking approach with a sharp, later rotation, often referred to by drivers as ‘V-style’.

The 34-year-old favours carrying more speed through corners, taking more of a ‘U-style’ approach. This requires a little rear instability on entry to turn in but enough grip to rotate the car mid-corner without the rear breaking away.

“The way he attacks the corners hits the brakes, the driving style is different,” AlphaTauri’s chief race engineer Jonathan Eddolls said.

“Not only from the mechanical or aero platform, but we know the Pirelli tyres are quite sensitive. The way he drives we can see different tyre temperatures, different tyre temperature balance

“We’re not talking big numbers, it’s not massive, but we can see differences in the way he drives. And he makes the lap time in different parts of the corner.

“Therefore he exposes different weaknesses to say Yuki does … So we just need a slightly different set-up direction for him.”

With more time to experiment with his set-up across the regular race weekend in Mexico City, adjustments made to the car’s set-up paid dividends as Ricciardo finished in the points for the first time since last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“I’m not surprised we had a good weekend because I was just ready for it,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1 after the Mexican Grand Prix.

“The direction we went with the set-up, I knew that would allow me to just have a bit more confidence with the car.”

Ricciardo ended each session with a top-10 time before taking fourth in qualifying.

He went on to finish seventh in the grand prix, falling agonisingly short of sixth after a last-lap battle with Mercedes’ George Russell.

Had it not been for a red flag he could have also finished as high as fifth.

Ricciardo has previously admitted that he had a weakness exposed when he failed to adapt to McLaren’s style in the same way his former teammate Lando Norris had, and in turn, his replacement Oscar Piastri.

However, he has always maintained, “Give me a winning car, and I’ll win”.

“One of his big limitations has been the front end coming back,” Eddolls said.

“So the [new set-up] directions have been able to improve the front end of the car for him, accepting the stability compromise and how that impacts the tyre temperatures through the corner and through the lap.”

Given Ricciardo generally struggled with rear instability at McLaren, it was initially thought that he would battle with more rear instability at AlphaTauri.

However, because of the AlphaTauri’s more stable platform, the car seems to behave more consistently.

“I think on the characteristics of the car, maybe we haven’t quite got the load or efficiency of some of the top teams,” Eddolls said.

“But there is no big fundamental weaknesses of the car, other than lacking a bit of [aerodynamic] load.

“He knows what it’s going to do, and the fact that it does the same thing every lap, corner to corner, it’s given him the confidence to be able to throw the car into the corners and know that it’s going to stick and do the same thing every time.

“It’s a car that’s given him the confidence to be able to push it closer to the limit than maybe he had in McLaren.”