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RENAULT ROLLERCOASTER

Renault Rollercoaster - Photo: Suttons

By Bruce Williams

Renault Rollercoaster - Photo: Suttons

Renault Rollercoaster – Photo: Suttons

ALTHOUGH RENAULT is having a rollercoaster season – strong in some races, struggling in others, and failing to show its true potential in some – Aussie Daniel Ricciardo is confident that the building blocks are in place to create an improved and more competitive car for 2020.

By DAN KNUTSON

“Since the (August) break we understood a lot more with the car,” Ricciardo said when he met with F1 news outlets including Auto Action during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. “So whatever ends up happening in this year’s points championship, I feel like we’ve got a strong direction on next year.

“Then the question is, can we produce the car? I think we’ve got a pretty good understanding of what we need for next year, and some target areas. So I am definitely optimistic we can nail a few of those for the 2020 car.”

Ricciardo and his engineers have now melded, and they have a very good idea what sort of set-up the car will need even before they arrive for the race weekend, so they don’t have to make many changes to the car during Friday’s practice sessions.

“I know what I want now a bit more,” Ricciardo said, “so with our combined understanding it seems like we get on the front foot a bit earlier in practice. The last few Friday nights we haven’t changed much on the car – little bits and pieces – but we haven’t really turned the car upside down.

“So it is a combination of the team understanding this car more and me getting comfortable with the car and the team. I’m confident that we can be pretty competitive now on all the circuits.”

After spending 2014 through 2018 at Red Bull, Ricciardo had to adjust to Renault.

“I look back at the first few races and it was still new to me,” he recalled. “I’d think back to Red Bull and say that this worked there, but is it actually working here? Do I have to forget all that? So a bit of trial and error got us to this point.”

Still, while Renault has improved the car, its weak points are still high-downforce circuits and riding the kerbs. That is something the team needs to address on the 2020 car.

Ricciardo is still confident that Renault can snatch fourth place from McLaren in the 2019 constructors’ championship. He gives the Italian Grand Prix – where he finished fourth and teammate Nico Hulkenberg placed fifth – as an example of the team’s potential to garner plenty of points. But the Perth native is also taking a long-term view.

“It is easy for us to look at the McLaren fight,” he said, “but ultimately we want to be looking at the top three teams. And we are still, especially on those high-downforce circuits, quite a long way off of them.”

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