Daniel Ricciardo is hopeful that his Renault team will uncover what was wrong with the R.S.19 over the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, and it'll turn up at Silverstone in two weeks "laughing".
The Enstone squad had a difficult weekend as it failed to progress into Q3 on Saturday, while Sunday delivered no points as it struggled throughout the 71 laps.
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Renault has been consistently running inside the top ten for a number of races now, which leaves Ricciardo confident that it was an anomaly race.
"I don't want to be running around 12th, that was the tougher part today but we have had a good run, so I don't want to let this weekend dictate the whole start of the season," he said. "We had some momentum, I want to find it for Silverstone.
"I would like to say that there's something, and I really hope we find it this week. For example, Le Castellet was really windy yet I didn't really feel affected by the wind.
"Today it was very still but the car felt like there was massive turbulence during the race, especially at high speed, it was very light.
"I like to feel that we'll find something, because it doesn't add up. I'm optimistic that we'll find what was wrong and we'll be in Silverstone laughing."
Ricciardo's old team Red Bull came out on top in Austria, as Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc to the chequered flag.
Ricciardo insists he's pleased that the race was a good one for the fans, and is happy for the energy drink squad, who he spent five years with.
"For Max, it sounded like a fun race. I'm glad for F1 that it was a fun race, because my race was pretty boring so I'm glad there was something at the front. I think Red Bull are very happy.
"I saw Mr Mateschitz before and he was already in a good mood, I can't imagine how he's feeling now. On a personal level, I'm happy for him [Verstappen], it hasn't been the easiest season for them."
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Replies (2)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
"it hasn't been the easiest season for them." Hmm, I kiiinda see where he is coming from, but let's not research projectile mineralogy inside of glass houses, shall we Riccy-boi? I think we all expected Renault to be performing a lot better than they are right now, yet it's their customer that is running away with it as of present.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
what a weird weekend for renault