Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Start, Monaco, 2019

Ricciardo: Return to midfield racing required more discipline

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In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo says he had to exercise more discipline in his driving after his switch to Renault last year meant he was racing in the midfield more often.

What they say

The former Red Bull driver said having a less competitive car and more closely-matched rivals made it essential to minimise errors at the wheel.

It’s so easy to over-drive and to try to get that extra tenth and you end up losing a tenth.

It’s kind of no different to the past, like, you’re obviously always trying to get the most out of the car. But I think just being more conscious of how what a bit of over-driving does.

Especially with the midfield, the car is obviously not as good as the front guys so if you do have a slide, I think you lose more time and overheat the tyres and you seem to pay a bigger price. I think [I’m] learning when to be sensible and when to try and get a bit more out of it.

It’s taught me probably just a bit of discipline over anything else. Because the long and short is you are always trying to drive as hard and fast as you can. But picking your moments is probably the best way to put it.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Does W Series suffer from the difficulty of benchmarking its competitors against those in other championships?

I think the biggest problem with W series is we don’t have the bar for them to be benchmarked to. The chassis might be the same as regional F3 but they change the engine and tires so no comparison can be made. Maybe it’s intentional, I don’t know.

But if they want people to seriously looking for talent from W series, they need to have established driver (e.g: a midfield F1 driver at like Perez or Sainz) have a practice session in that car and set their fastest time. Anyone that can came close of beat the time will instantly recognised as a potential talent.
Sonics (@Sonicslv)

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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20 comments on “Ricciardo: Return to midfield racing required more discipline”

  1. Hope renault can give him a good car next year miss his sick battles for the wins

    1. @carlosmedrano Same here. I also miss him at the front of the field.

      1. him ‘being’ at the front.

    2. @carlosmedrano
      He buried his career when he ran away from Max, and now his only chance to return to the front is becoming a Barrichello at Ferrari.
      Renault won’t give him a car worthy of his talent, ever.

      1. First of all, he didn’t run away from Max, he ran away from RedBull.

        Second of all, why on earth would he become a Barrichello at Ferrari? If you think he’d play second fiddle to Leclerc, you’re dreaming. Put him in a Ferrari and he’ll be fighting for the WDC.

    3. Renault is talking a lot about 2021 so i think they gave up on 2020. I think Alpha Tauri will overtake them in the constructors.

      1. For me one of the more interesting aspects of the drastic 2021 changes is that on paper the teams should be closer to each other in terms of level of competitiveness, and the cars should be closer physically on the track due to them ridding themselves of clean air dependence. So for the purpose of this discussion, perhaps Renault may not make a dominant car, but perhaps they only have to come close. If DR is worth all that many say he is worth in terms of driving competitiveness…well, Liberty and Brawn want F1 to be more about the driver, so…let’s see the drivers put their money where their mouth is then. Let’s see a separation of the men from the boys. I also question and doubt whether we will ever see another even 4 year run let along Mercedes-length run of domination. I think not if Liberty has their way. So I predict fewer runs of domination from any one team, and a much more driver oriented series in which what WDC’s the current and future drivers do get, are going to be harder fought for. Thank goodness not everyone considers sheer numbers of wins and WDCs as the only measure to greatness.

        1. Well we know one thing – if it comes down to the driver and not the car, Hamilton will never win another WDC!

  2. Thanks for the COTD, @keithcollantine.

    1. A very sensible idea, @sonicslv

      1. Agreed, would be sensible. How about last year’s F3 champ? Do they use regional F3 cars? I gave up when British F4 became F3 with a simple name change. What will these cars look like on “big” circuits like USA & Mexico? I fear they will look very slow.

        Formula W tv coverage would be better if the female commentator didn’t go on about the Brits so much and that it was unfair that German drivers, say, were more familiar with German circuits. I thought commentators were supposed to be impartial?

        1. It never looks good when talking about a new sport, or new participants, to be making excuses for what is actually caused by lack of practice. Simulators are freely available to help acclimatize drivers to unfamiliar tracks. Excuses sound a little like entitlement. “it’s not their fault because” etc etc. Let the women compete hard without the excuses winners will emerge and winners will emerge naturally.

          1. Sorry, that last sentence occurred as my whole comment somehow got merged with the faq so I was typing blind 😎

  3. roberto giacometti
    19th January 2020, 3:22

    Gilles Villeneuve !! Legend Supreme !! Never Forgotten !! Forever and Always The Best !!

  4. Regarding the upper-tweet: Worthy of the black-and-orange flag, what JEV did like LEC in Suzuka.

  5. I don’t know if i missed any stories lately regarding the post-2021 contracts, but according to Gazzetta dello Sport Hamilton is about to sign a new 2-year deal with Mercedes until the end of 2022.

  6. So has the experience made Ricciardo a better driver?

    1. @shimks Hard for us to know given his car. That would be for him to say. He wouldn’t be the first to either say himself, or be observed by others, as having his ‘best race ever’ in a midfield car that we barely got to see all day, but that the driver wrestled into submission and put it where it didn’t belong. Not sure if we saw that from DR in 2019. So much of this game depends on the car.

      1. If I recall correctly DR said his best race of 2019 was at Spa when driving a car damaged at the first corner of the race, but ultimately without points reward. Most would not have noticed anything special, but would remember when Albon drove around him after his tyres gave up.

      2. @robbie I do hope Renault become stronger and quickly. I don’t want Ricciardo to be another Alonso, with us all wondering what could have been with the right machinery. Somehow I think his time is up, though, in so far as having an opportunity to win a championship. I feel like the new brigade of young drivers are already here and soon will be sharing the best machinery between them.

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