Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Baku City Circuit, 2019

Second practice was stranger than cancelled first session – Ricciardo

2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo described his second practice session as “strange” after being unable to do a race simulation because he had flat-spotted his tyres.

The first practice session was cancelled after George Russell’s car was damaged by a loose drain cover. “It was strange,” Ricciardo said, “and then FP2 was probably even more strange for me.”

The Renault driver described why he only did 15 laps in the session. “I missed the last half-hour or more,” he said. “Normally around here it’s because you’ve crashed but my reason was flat-spotting. [On] both sets we flat-spotted the tyre, the first set and the second one, on some push laps.

“It just happened straight away and then the tyre was gone. Unfortunately we didn’t really have any tyres to do a long run. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in that position before so obviously it was not cool. Frustrating, [but] at least it highlighted some areas we will work on tonight.”

Ricciardo said Renault have “got to get into it and be super-efficient” during tomorrow’s final hour of practice before qualifying.

The two Renault drivers ended practice inside the bottom five and chassis technical director Nick Chester indicated they will likely resort to running higher downforce levels tomorrow.

“I think we’ll sort it out,” said Ricciardo. “Today was for sure a challenge for us. But I’m convinced we’ll sort it out for tonight and get them going. I think especially on a low-grip circuit once you switch them on the grip will come quite quickly. I’m sure a smile will be on both of our faces once we feel that.”

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8 comments on “Second practice was stranger than cancelled first session – Ricciardo”

  1. And The Hulk loosing his taillight made Renault look like a bunch of amateurs.
    Strange the FIA did not took action on that incident.. Bottas and Hamilton just missed the part.

    1. And Gasly driving past the weigh bridge made them look like amateurs…

  2. [On] both sets we flat-spotted the tyre, the first set and the second one, on some push laps.

    It sounds like they need some sort of antilock braking system.

    1. Yeah, well that would be against the regulations.

  3. Weird friday

  4. Seems Dan’s still not fully comfortable in the RS19. Must be hard coming from a high downforce Newey design to something that doesn’t quite have the same level of performance under braking, especially when his driving style is based so heavily on being able to really push into the braking zones. Hopefully he’ll get on top of it before Monaco and he can maybe get a decent result.

  5. What happens to FP1 tyres when FP1 is cancelled? Guess its no different to had it been wet.

  6. Correct, and them working on the car, causing the penalty, even more so.

    “Strange the FIA did not took action on that incident” – What’s way stranger, is that they didn’t have VER come to the pits or blackflagged during the race at Barcelona last year, when a FW endplate came loose, after he stupidly damaged it during the VSC by ramming STR. Bc of it, VET and PER had a damaged car, slowing them down for the remainder of the race, and VDO even retired bc of it.

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