Daniel Ricciardo: Renault can do better than P16/17
Daniel Ricciardo insists Renault can “definitely do better” than the P16/17 they achieved in FP2 ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Aussie’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg ended FP1 in the best-of-the-rest P7 spot, with Ricciardo in P11, but come FP2 the pair ended up P16 and 17 respectively.
Ricciardo won the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix with Red Bull, and he admitted his new employers need to unlock the R.S.19’s pace again if they even want to be in the points conversation.
“In the morning, we looked alright, we got up to speed pretty quickly, but then we didn’t really make the extra step forward for the afternoon,” he told reporters in Monte Carlo.
“We made some changes, I don’t think they worked. We’ll understand why and go back one or two steps and get back to a more happy feeling.
“I think we can definitely do better than 16th, 17th so I’m optimistic we can do better. I’m still alright, but hopefully we can find it in the next 24 hours.”
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— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) May 23, 2019
The 29-year-old topped every practice and qualifying session before winning the Monaco GP last year to complete a weekend of dominance, but Ricciardo stressed it isn’t just a case of transferring that to a new team.
“You do have to [adapt], absolutely. I’m still driving around here with some confidence, but there are a few places where I want to just come off the brakes sooner and carry that speed through,” Ricciardo explained.
“We pinpointed a few areas on the track and gave the guys some homework tonight to try and work on. I’ll still try and figure out a few places I can get a bit out of for myself.”
Traffic as always, is an issue around the tight Monaco track, but Ricciardo refused to use that as an excuse, even if he was “calling people a few names on the radio”.
“I was calling people a few names on the radio, that’s always the case here,” Ricciardo laughed.
“It didn’t cost our performance runs. Our lap times, I can’t blame anyone on track for our position today.”
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