The Renault F1 Team completed a total of 961 laps over their eight days of pre-season testing, team newcomer Daniel Ricciardo was responsible for 452 of those laps and was happy the amount of work the team had achieved.
Following the shock announcement last season that the Australian would not be continuing with the team, Ricciardo finally got to try out the Renault machinery over the two weeks of testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“It’s been a pretty good week and we’ve done a decent amount of laps with some consistent running.” said Ricciardo.
While happy with what they had managed, the F1 race winner remains grounded about his expectations for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship season ahead.
“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.”
Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd
With under two weeks to go before the first on-track session at Albert Park in Melbourne, ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, the team now have one last opportunity to work on improvements.
“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.
While he knows there is a lot of work to be done still, Ricciardo is confident with the decision he made to switch teams and leave the relative comfort that Red Bull Racing offered.
“I’m heading to Melbourne feeling that I belong here and I just want to go racing now!” he concluded.
