Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda’s private test as F1 2024 preparations ramp up

Michelle Foster
AlphaTauri AT03 nose and front wing. February 2022

AlphaTauri AT03 nose and front wing.

Visa Cash App team-mates Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda have ramped up their 2024 preparations with a private test at the Imola circuit.

Putting in the laps in a two-year-old AT03, the team-mates spent three days out on track ahead of Formula 1’s official February return to action.

Under Formula 1’s regulations, teams may run cars that are two years or older meaning the team could use the AT03, the first of their ground-effect aerodynamic cars.

‘Visa Cash App RB’ hits the track in an AT03

But according to reports, the icy conditions in Italy meant things didn’t run as smoothly as the team had hoped.

On the day Red Bull confirmed their junior team would be named ‘Visa Cash App RB’ for the 2024 F1 championship, the Faenza-based outfit had to wait a few hours to get onto the track as the asphalt was frozen.

According to Motorsport.com, Tsunoda eventually ventured out on full wet tyres to gauge the grip before handing the car over to Ricciardo for the afternoon’s running.

They were back in action on Thursday and Friday with Tsunoda, who is contesting his fourth season with the Red Bull junior team, posting a vid on X.

“Cold but don’t care. So good being back in an F1 car,” he said.

Red Bull announced earlier this week that its junior team, formerly known as Scuderia Toro Rosso and then AlphaTauri, would be called ‘Visa Cash App RB’.

The name has been derided by both fans and former F1 drivers.

“I know I’ve just retired so I don’t wanna sound like “everything in the past used to be so much better”, but to my opinion “Visa Cash App RB” isn’t an appropriate name for a Formula 1 team,” Giedo van der Garde wrote on X.

Marcus Ericsson said it was “no different than renaming the Lakers ‘The Coca-Cola team’.”

As part of the agreement, Visa logos will appear on the car as well as on Red Bull’s cars, along with the F1 Academy entries for both teams this season.

Read next: The 13 drivers out of contract at the end of the F1 2024 season

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