Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Monza, 2019

Ricciardo: Double top-five finish for Renault is “a statement”

2019 Italian Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo says Renault’s best result of the season so far at Monza shows the progress the team has made with its power unit.

The RS19s finished fourth and fifth, Ricciardo leading home team mate Nico Hulkenberg, at a track where Renault’s power unit has not previously excelled.

Ricciardo praised the work the team has put into its engine development. “I want to give an extra special shout-out to Viry [Chatillon, home of the team’s engine base], to the engine boys, because I think to get this sort of result here as a Renault team and power unit is quite a statement,” he said.

“Every year we come here it feels like there’s a lack of optimism. Obviously the last few years it was never a strength of ours coming here.

“For them to turn it around this year and make the gains and put on this result here is special. I think this one is for them, they definitely deserve a glass of champagne tonight.”

He admitted the result was “overdue” for the team, “I’m very happy with the weekend,” he said. “A bit like Canada, we executed the qualifying result into a strong race result.

“I felt this one was a bit overdue. It was really [not] since Canada we had a strong team result. But we finally got maximum points, if you know what I mean, and that’s really pleasing.”

This result helped Renault significantly close the gap to McLaren in the fight for fourth in the constructors’ championship. Ricciardo says the team now needs to deliver the same results at different styles of circuits.

“Hopefully we can learn something from these low downforce circuits and take it into a high downforce one like Singapore.”

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23 comments on “Ricciardo: Double top-five finish for Renault is “a statement””

  1. A statement of a result, but also a statement to show how much the team is struggling with downforce, that this is where their engine is in performance. Maybe they’ve made progress on that over the summer break that hasn’t really been seen as we’ve had 2 power-based tracks – Singapore result very important if they want to get close to McLaren.

    1. Ricci did great and the Hulk defended vigorously in his battle with Albon.
      And this time all Renault engines survived a complete race.( well Sainz only a few laps, but that was not a engine problem) So they really made it stick this race.

    2. Absolutely. The car seems to have good components, mechanical grip, etc. but not enough downforce. At least they know which department needs to up their game!

    3. I’m happy for them as it’s been a pretty hard year for Renault. Let’s not forget Nicos contribution as well. Holding up the pack in Q3 have them a better than expected starting position as well.

      Loved Dan’s dig back at Max/RBR about the bagging they had been giving Renault’s PU even if I’m one that believed Renault deserved every bit of the criticism they deserved.

    4. Er, wasn’t the consensus until now that Renault’s biggest problem was a lack of power?

  2. Great to see Renault and Ricciardo rewarded with a finish like this!

  3. They did well today and they looked pretty fast on the straights.

    The lack downforce though so they’ll probably suck again in Singapore

    1. They should be much stronger in Brazil again. Rest of the tracks they will strugle against McLaren..

  4. Ferrari should try to take Ricciardo from Renault for the next year.

    1. Ric would be a great fit in ferrari, doesn’t crumble under pressure, hard racer who just gets on with it..

    2. Totally agree, or if Merc had a clue they’d grab him for the post Hamilton era.

      1. If they actually have a clue, Russell would make a lot more sense, or even Ocon. Ricciardo is only 4 years younger than Hamilton.

  5. I suspect that the Renault’s will be stuck trying to push bricks around for the rest of the season unfortunately.

  6. Good to see at least some of the potential that enticed Ricciardo (and Ocon) over is starting to come through. But yeah a way to go yet.

  7. If Vettel and Verstappen had performed properly …. where would Renault have been?

    1. Best of the rest which is where they are aiming.

    2. @tenerifeman Yeah if Hamilton, Leclerc, Bottas both Renaults and Perez all crashed out RB would have finished 1,2. :))

    3. well, Verstappen was still coming from the back of the grid, hard to hold it against him that he finished in the lower reaches of the top ten really @tenerifeman. But I think that Sainz would have been able to put some pressure on the Renault guys though, as might have done Kvyat if he hadn’t had his PU eat itself. Vettel off course yeah. Stroll might also have had a bit of a push if Vettel hadn’t hit him (and if he hadn’t made the same mistake getting going again)

      Shame Albon is still not really up to speed in the Red Bull too, he really should have been on the Renaults’ backs for half of the race, not just those last laps where Hulk was able to keep him behind.

      1. I saw Albon closing the gap to Hulk until he reached the magic DRS-second but then he seemed to stall, unfortunately no coverage on TV.

  8. Sonny Crockett
    9th September 2019, 9:51

    It’s good to see Renault progress but this was a power circuit which flattered their car.

    It’ll be interesting to see how they get on at tracks with a little more of the twisty stuff!

    1. Agree, no reason to suspect that Renault will be quicker then customer-team McLaren on the more aero-sensitive circuits.

  9. I, for one, am well pleased for Ric and Renault and Nico…They deserved a good result for a while now and finally got it. Hopefully, as some commenters said, they can get the downforce sorted for the coming races. I want to see them in the mix with Redbull and Merc and Ferarri so so badly…

  10. I’m so glad they did well this race. I was concerned that it could be a serious chassis problem but it makes more sense that their aero is the problem. Ricci said as soon as they took all the aero of the car was so balanced. I remember Squirrel saying last year their chassis was the best in the midfield so they should work on the PU. Duh. It would appear if they can improve their aero they MIGHT get closer to the front (ie 7th at a normal race at best). Having said all this my hopes aren’t high lol.

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