The Team Principal of the Renault F1 Team, Cyril Abiteboul, expressed his disappointment at the team’s performance during the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring at the weekend, calling it “a poor result”, with neither Daniel Ricciardo nor Nico Hülkenberg able to bring home any points.
Hülkenberg started in eleventh position and finished twelfth, while his team-mate Ricciardo started in twentieth as a result of changing the power unit and managed to recover to fourteenth.
Abiteboul praised the overall efforts of his drivers, saying that they both made the best of the difficult situations they found themselves in.
“A poor result today with both cars outside of the top ten,” he said. “With Nico we were targeting points, but with an engine having to run in safe mode and a very modest advantage over the Soft tyre starters, we could not make our strategy really work.”
He also praised Ricciardo after the Australian’s recovery drive from the back of the grid, also noting that he was able to bring the fight to Haas F1 Team‘s Kevin Magnussen.
“Daniel ran a good race, but starting last is always going to be a challenge at a track like Budapest,” said Abiteboul. “He still managed to gain several positions and had a good fight with Magnussen until the last corner, showing that he is a fighter who does not surrender.”
Abiteboul concluded that Riccardo’s attitude should be an ‘inspiration’ as everyone heads into the summer break, time they will use to recharge and regroup ahead of the second half the season, which resumes on September 1 at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix.
“His attitude on track must be an inspiration for us as we head towards the summer break, with a first half of the season well below our objectives,” admitted Abiteboul.
