Daniel Ricciardo's worrying Renault reality check

Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault teammate has made a big admission that could damper the Aussie’s Formula One hopes this season.

Ricciardo is yet to finish a race for his new team after a luckless start to his career with the French manufacturer.

The 29-year-old was forced to retire at both the Bahrain Grand Prix and his home race in Melbourne, however, he’s been determined to remain positive.

“I’m certainly getting there in terms of extracting the maximum and getting more comfortable (with the car),” Ricciardo told Renault’s website.

“These things do take time, but it’s good to iron out these details going forward.

“We’ll get there soon and sure enough and I’m confident we’re heading in the right direction. We showed signs of that over the race weekend (in Bahrain), going from a struggle on Friday, followed by an improvement on Saturday to being in and amongst it on Sunday.”

The French manufacturer’s works team finished fourth in the constructors’ championship last season and had targeted eating into the gap to the big three of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

However, at the start of the 2019 season Renault has struggled to establish itself as the best of the rest again, and poor reliability has left it with just six points from two races, thanks to Hulkenberg’s seventh place in the season opener.

Ricciardo has swapped a race-winning 2018 Red Bull for Renault’s midfield contender and by his own admission has struggled to adapt compared to Hulkenberg.

One of the areas Ricciardo has struggled with is Renault’s response to striking the kerbs, an area where it was weak last season.

However, comments from Renault teammate Hulkenberg will do little for Ricciardo’s optimism, with the German claiming “similar” problems from 2018 are still apparent.

“We have improved on a couple of things and definitely I think the engine side has improved quite a lot over the winter,” Hulkenberg said.

“I think car and chassis aero-wise, we worked over the winter but we still have similar problems. So I feel there is where we really need to focus and come up with something better.”

Hulkenberg said Ricciardo’s struggles are understandable but it provides the team with valuable input going forward.

“Obviously I think he comes from a spoilt car, so he has to reset a little bit and the references are a bit different.

“But it’s good to have that kind of feedback. This is what it takes to be a top car so it’s valuable and good assurance for the team that that’s what we need to do.”

With agencies