RICCIARDO: WE UNDERACHIEVED

Daniel Ricciardo: We underachieved – Photo: LAT

The Renault team underachieved during the 2019 Formula 1 season, but things will get better next year.

By DAN KNUTSON

That’s the opinion of Daniel Ricciardo who left Red Bull to join Renault this year. Ricciardo and teammate Nico Hülkenberg finished out of the points in the season finale in Abu Dhabi due to tyre woes and strategy, but Renault did hold on to fifth place in the constructors’ championship ahead of Toro Rosso.

AUTO ACTION was there to hear what the Aussie had to say after the race.

Was it important for the team to keep fifth and not lose it in the last race?

“Yes, that definitely would have been a punch in the guts,” he replied. “Financially it is. You put the financial loss onto the motivation loss, and we didn’t need that. So let’s use that as a positive and say all right boys, we dodged bullet, so let’s avoid all bullets next year.”

Starting in Melbourne and ending in Abu Dhabi, Renault has had up and down 21 races through the season.

“Today was not great,” Ricciardo said, “but in the winter (we need to) keep the spirit of the team high. We did underachieve for the most part this year, but not let that bring them down. If that is the case then we are not going to move forward next year.”

Ricciardo sees improvements on the horizon.

“I know I like to talk a lot,” he said, “but I am not one to say we will do better next year boys if I really don’t think we will. I am not just going to massage their shoulders and tell them what they want to hear.

“I know I will get better, so that is one variable that I know is going to change for the better. Even with that alone I am confident moving into next year.”

The team’s aerodynamicists have diagnosed the mistakes in this year’s car.

“We can change that and get a lot more out of it as the year goes on,” Ricciardo said. “With the updates we didn’t really get that much, so we have a bit in hand. We certainly have the resources and the budget to do so. So I’m optimistic.”

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