Daniel Ricciardo talks up Renault’s new philosophy

Daniel Ricciardo has given a very important clue as to why Renault will learn from a grim 2018 in its push to become an F1 superpower.

Daniel Ricciardo is expecting Renault to do things a little differently this year.

Renault was never in the hunt for a top-three berth last year and while the odds of that changing in 2019 are slim at best, the team will at least be doing something different to see whether it can get some extra gas out of its car.

Not even an upgrade helped the French outfit gain any ground on its rivals in 2018, as Nico Hulkenberg acknowledged late in the season when he lamented the lack of progress on the car made over the course of the year.

But with Renault buoyed by the arrival of Daniel Ricciardo, the team has vowed to make waves in the coming years as it challenges to be in contention for more than just the “best of the rest” tag while Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull fight it out for world championships.

Although no drastic rise up the leaderboard is expected this year — nor has one been promised — Ricciardo is optimistic a different “philosophy” when it comes to car development will be crucial in Renault attaining some much-needed improvement as it learns from last year’s mistakes.

The Aussie recruit suggested he would be consulted in the planning process, which will hopefully see Renault become more proactive in the race for shaving vital fractions of a second off lap times.

Renault is after some much-needed improvement.

“I think the philosophy this year will be quite different as far as the upgrades we get,” Ricciardo said, according to Motorsport.com.

“I think the plan and the structuring is going to change, and their philosophy on what to bring and when to bring it. I believe that is going to change.

“I will be part of that and trust that process, and hope we are staying ahead of the curve.”

Ricciardo knows all too well the pitfalls that come with running with a Renault engine. His former team Red Bull used power units provided by the French company before opting to sever ties and partner with Honda this year.

Red Bull and Renault frequently bickered over the performance and reliability of those engines and Ricciardo was cruelly cut down by engine failures more than once as he regularly battled technical problems in his final season with Red Bull.

It’s why eyebrows were raised when the he inked a two-year deal with Renault given the power unit malfunctions he’d suffered using its own equipment. But, ever one to search for the silver lining, the West Australian suggested the poor showings of previous years meant Renault had more room for improvement than other teams on the grid.

“I think, in a way, the exciting thing for Renault is that the last few years it is no secret that we have always been playing catch-up with the power unit, so the positive with that is we always feel there is more to gain than the others,” Ricciardo said.

“So from that I will obviously always stay optimistic and feel that in that development we can find a bit more in the season and keep closing the gap.”

It’s a fresh start for Ricciardo.

Renault technical director Nick Chester echoed his star driver’s positive thinking, saying new regulations introduced in 2019 gave the team plenty of possibilities to inch closer to the sport’s top dogs.

“It’s partly because of the regulations we’ve got this year, the 2019 regulations, that open up quite a lot of avenues,” Chester said, per Motorsport.com.

“So there is a lot to be developed this year, in terms front wings, brake drums, bargeboards, sidepods vanes — there’s a whole big area available for development.

“We put a lot of effort into our tunnel programs and aero programs, so we’ll be trying to get things through as quick as we can and put those gains on the car.”

After pre-season testing concluded in Barcelona last week, Ricciardo insisted Renault had made decent progress while recognising it still has work to do ahead of the new campaign.

With teams preparing for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 17, Ricciardo finished eighth fastest around the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit on the final day of testing with a best lap time of one minute 17.114 seconds.

The 29-year-old banked 452 laps over two-weeks of testing, with teammate Nico Hulkenberg completing 509.

“It’s been a pretty good week and we’ve done a decent amount of laps with some consistent running,” Ricciardo said after testing. “It will take some time to catch the front teams but that is not what we expected to happen at winter testing and we are very realistic about that. At the same time, it’s impossible to make accurate performance predictions.

“We still have work to do and things to improve on and that’s what we’ll focus on now. We will dissect the data we’ve harnessed over the past days back at the factory.

“We are making progress but the bigger steps will happen gradually going forward. I’m heading to Melbourne feeling that I belong here and I just want to go racing now.”

With AAP