RB will assign a new VCARB 01 chassis to Daniel Ricciardo for the upcoming Chinese GP in a bid to alleviate any equipment concerns following the Aussie’s low-key start to his 2024 season.
In Australia, Ricciardo was comprehensively outpaced – and not for the first time this season – by his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
While the Chinese driver made the top-ten shootout in qualifying, Ricciardo was left stranded in the lower tier of the field.
On race day, Tsunoda’s efforts yielded a productive P7 – the team’s first points of the year – while Ricciardo crossed the checkered a lowly P12.
While the 34-year-old claims that he isn’t fighting any specific challenges with RB’s car, he is at a loss to explain the performance deficit between his teammate and himself, suggesting that an underlying issues if perhaps impacting his performance.
RB racing director Alan Permane doubts the new chassis will confirm Ricciardo’s suspicions, but the team is happy to comply with its driver’s request.
"For me the chassis is a big lump of carbon that we attach the suspension to, attach an engine to, and a gearbox to,” he said. “It's really ever so unlikely that there are performance issues with the chassis.
“However, we have a new one coming through, it makes sense at all levels to give that to Daniel, not least that Yuki is super happy and super comfortable where he is. We don't have a preference on drivers.
“With Daniel maybe it's good for him to just put that completely to bed, that there any there any issues with the car.”
©RB
Permane stressed that there was no correlation between Ricciardo’s request and the timing of the new chassis’ introduction.
“Sometimes you can measure things, you can put chassis on rigs and check stiffnesses and things like that,” he said. “The reason I say it's ever so unlikely is because it really is not a performance differentiator.
“A survival cell is what it's known as in the regulations, it's there to mount the front suspension off, to mount the engine off, and to keep the driver safe.
“So I don't see it as being a performance differentiator, and it's certainly not something we want to be hopping drivers in and out of. It's a happy accident that we have one coming, and it doesn't make sense to give it to Yuki.
“It makes sense to give it to Daniel, but we're not bringing a new chassis because of his issues, to clear about that. It is just that it all kind of fits together."
Speaking on the updates implemented by RB this weekend in Japan, and which include a revised floor, Permane believes the changes should prove beneficial at tracks where slower corners abound;
“It has strakes at the front, it has a new wing down the side of it, and actually a new little detail round the rear tyre,” he said. “It gives us a nice little step of downforce.
“We're a little bit hesitant to say it's going to be fantastic here at Suzuka, it mainly focusses a little bit on lower speed, and here we have a much more high-speed content, so we're intrigued to see how it will go here.
“We would like a little bit more high-speed performance, that's why I say we're a little bit hesitant here. We’ve got upgrades coming in the next couple of races that will target that area.”
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