Ricciardo says “it is what it is” after an impacted Friday in Japan

Daniel Ricciardo’s lack of running on Friday in Suzuka does all but help the underperforming RB driver in his fight for his seat, with the Australian saying “it is what it is” despite describing his time on the pit wall in FP1 as “productive”.

After making way for Red Bull junior driver Ayumu Iwasa in FP1, Ricciardo’s washed-out Free Practice 2 session was far from ideal.

“We have to give up our seat for one session in the year so… [Ayumu] had his home track so it obviously made sense to give him a run, so that’s fine,” Ricciardo said.

“When you miss FP1, obviously you want to get some running in FP2.

“That weather was just that in the middle where its not really wet enough for proper inter-running,  and then it’s not really dry enough to learn much on the dry-running.”

The first session wasn’t a complete switch-off for Ricciardo, with the Australian getting a taste of Reserve Driver deja-vu on the RB pit wall in FP1. 

“It was a lot like early last year when I was spending race weekends on Red Bull’s pit wall, you actually see quite a bit.

“We’re looking through a lot of data, and you watch on-boards, and obviously we hear the comments from the drivers and I’m trying to then understand what exactly they need where, and then obviously see the data and relate to that.

Daniel Ricciardo and RB’s Alan Permane and Laurent Mekies talk on the pit wall during practice at Suzuka. Image: Peter Fox/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

“Also to just put myself in that position and think ‘ok, now what would we do? We have one new set of tyres and we’re complaining about this so… What do we do? How much do we change?’ And blah, blah, blah.

“You have a little bit of the luxury of time on the pit wall… so yeah there is some things to learn and evaluate.

“Not driving is obviously not that cool, but I can still learn something on the pit wall.”

As for his teammate, who cruised through the opening session of the Japanese driver’s home Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda showed some promising signs for the RB team to build on in their midfield fight.

Tsunoda finished the morning session in P9 with a time of 1:31.230s, 1.1 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s benchmark.

“The afternoon session – forget that ever happened, but the morning session, Yuki [Tsunoda] looked like he was up to speed well and was in the top ten, I think, really all session.”

From the sidelines, Ricciardo was able to keep a keen eye on his competitors, eyeing up those around his teammate’s time from the pit wall.

“The McLarens were on a scrub soft by that point so I think they’ll be ahead, [Fernando] Alonso was quick, [Lance] Stroll didn’t look so, but I’m sure he will be once everything is up there tomorrow.

“We probably look like we’re probably front of the midfield battle that we’re in, which kind of is that P11 spot.”

Daniel Ricciardo during FP2 at the Japanese GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

Ricciardo was obviously eager to put down some laps in FP2, testing the conditions on multiple occasions.

In total, the Australian punched in nine laps, the most of any driver in the session.

Although unrepresentative, Ricciardo’s fastest lap time was a 1:41.913s, putting him over 7 seconds back on Oscar Piastri’s lead lap.

“You never know what happens in quali, but it looked like we’re where we kind of expect to be so, on that note it’s more positive than not.”

Ricciardo will take to the track tomorrow at 1:30 PM, AEST, for what he and the entire grid hope will be an uninterrupted final practice session before qualifying takes place in the afternoon.

2024 Japanese Grand Prix

Friday, April 5

Practice 1: 13.30-14.30

Practice 2: 17.00-18.00

Saturday, April 6

Practice 3: 13.30-14.30

Qualifying: 17.00-18.00

Sunday, April 7

Grand Prix: 15.00

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