The Australian was dropped by McLaren at the end of 2022 after struggling to come to terms with the car across two difficult seasons in which he lagged behind Lando Norris.
Thus far in 2024 he has been overshadowed by Tsunoda, who has twice made Q3 and finished seventh in Australia.
However Ricciardo insists that he is in a much better position at RB than he was at McLaren, and is close to having all the pieces fall into place.
“We're chasing a little bit of as always downforce, a bit of rear grip,” he said when asked by Autosport in Japan about his situation.
“To be honest, I struggled a little bit in the high speed in Melbourne and Saudi.
“Saudi we did see we were down a bit, so we kind of felt like we had a bit of an explanation for that. But it was still the case in Melbourne through kind of Turn 9 and 10, where I was down a bit compared to Yuki.
“I think we probably focus a little bit of our set-up on those areas to give me that confidence. And then I think the low and medium speed stuff, we're pretty much there.
“It's not a McLaren situation. So I think it's just important now that I just keep working with my engineers, and we don't start taking too many suggestions or advice from the outside.
Source: Autosport