Ricciardo managed to find a set-up breakthrough after his first regular grand prix weekend back from his five-race injury lay-off and put the AlphaTauri fourth on the grid for the Mexico City event.
He backed that up by running in the top five for the first half of the race, with an unfortunately timed red flag leading to him dropping back to seventh at the finish.
The AlphaTauri's competitiveness, which Yuki Tsunoda also displayed before clashing with McLaren's Oscar Piastri, warrants a word of caution as it is thought to be largely circuit specific.
The Faenza squad could deploy its excellent mechanical grip at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez while being punished less for its draggy car.
But nevertheless Ricciardo showed a first glimpse of the kind of form and confidence reminiscent of his Red Bull days, something which didn't go unnoticed at the team.
“It’s great to see Daniel performing so well and it fully endorses the reason why we brought him back into AlphaTauri just prior to the summer break," said Red Bull team principal Horner.
“I thought he was outstanding this weekend fighting a Mercedes in an AlphaTauri. Had it not been for the red flag, he would have probably finished further up.
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“A great performance from him and certainly, it looked like the Daniel of old.”
Source: Autosport