Daniel Ricciardo insists that his Renault F1 Team are quicker than his twelfth place in the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix suggests.
Ricciardo had started the race from thirteenth following a three-place grid penalty and found himself tucked under the rear wing of Carlos Sainz Jr.‘s McLaren in the opening stages of the race.
Ricciardo eventually worked his way by the Spaniard and ran as high as ninth during the first pit-stop phase but fell to twelfth on Pirelli’s Hard compound tyres in the latter stages of the race while early race combatant Sainz came home eighth.
“It was a frustrating race from my side this afternoon,” said Ricciardo. “In the first part, we had the pace on Sainz and at the end of that first stint I was able to take him. We then pitted and put the Hard tyres on and he got me back quite quickly.
“It was difficult to close the gap back, we had good pace in the final sector but couldn’t get the run on him out of the final corner.”
Ricciardo headed his team-mate Nico Hülkenberg home but the Australian insists Renault are better than their current results suggests.
“We were certainly quicker than twelfth today and, in the end, it wasn’t a perfect Sunday. The midfield is so close and everything has to be executed to the maximum for a strong result. We’ll regroup and look forward to the next one.”
