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.

“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.”