Renault pace ‘not too shabby’ and close to Racing Point – Daniel Ricciardo

Renault have a trio of eighth places to show from their opening three Grands Prix – but Daniel Ricciardo reckons his R.S.20 is faster than the results suggest…

The Australian believes that not only are Renault quicker than Ferrari – though that perhaps isn’t so much to shout about so far this season – but that they are “pretty close” to Racing Point, who are fighting with Red Bull to be the second-quickest car on the grid.

“We have had eighth every race,” said Ricciardo. “Look, obviously eighth is not bad, but I do really feel that we’ve had a bit more speed than an eighth-place car in all three of those races. At least the last two.

“I feel that we are not far from one of those top five, top six finishes. I feel that we have a bit more speed than Ferrari at the moment. At least it seems so, the race pace is not too bad. So it is coming.

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“It is good to have got the points, but I know there are some bigger ones around the corner. It looked like we had a bit more pace than McLaren today. I am not sure where their race went, but we were pretty close to the Racing Point, so not too shabby.”

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Ricciardo pushed his mediums deep into the race, allowing him to have a final stint on a fresh set of the same rubber and giving him the opportunity to move into the top eight.

“I was pretty happy with it; I am pretty exhausted now to be honest,” he said. “I feel like I gave it everything I could.

“I will need to re-watch the race to see if there is something that we could have done better, but I felt like every lap I drove I was trying to move forward, or wrack the hell out of the car. I feel like we got the most out of it today.”