Renault F1 Team are positive after both drivers finished in the points in the United States Grand Prix, held at the Circuit of the Americas at the weekend.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished six, while his team-mate, Nico Hülkenberg, who does not have a seat for next year, finished ninth.
Hülkenberg was pleased to finish in the top ten, after he lost position at the start of the race.
“I’m really happy to take two points today especially after losing some ground on lap one. It was a race of two, contrasting halves for us,” said Hülkenberg.
“The first part wasn’t great, we lost places at Turn 1 and Turn 2 on the opening lap with some cars coming back onto the track in front of me. That made things difficult, but then the second-half of the race was a lot of fun.
“We converted to a two-stop strategy, maybe a lap or two too late, which was my decision, but we then started catching others in front. We had good pace, some fun fights, so we can be pleased to score two points today.”
Ricciardo was also pleased with his result, and the effectiveness of his one-stop strategy.
“We’ve had a lot of fun races this year and this one is certainly up there. The one-stop was the plan and it looked like others on the two-stop would get close at the end, which made things a bit nervy,” he said.
The Australian said the team had achieved everything they had set out to, finishing in front of the McLaren F1 Team, battling with rookie driver Lando Norris.
“I enjoyed the battle with Lando [Norris] as I passed him and he passed me back a couple of times at the start and then put some pressure on towards the end.”
“We held on for sixth, so it’s solid points for the team with Nico in the top ten as well.”
Team principal Cyril Abiteboul was positive, acknowledging that the team have secured another solid points finish.
“We have to first acknowledge it was once again a great race in our pack with very open and exciting strategic options for all. I think our drivers, and the team, enjoyed the race,” said the Frenchman.
“Daniel made an excellent start and was one of the few drivers who managed to make a one-stop strategy work.
He added: “When Norris stopped, we decided to be aggressive and not stop to try to beat both McLarens, which worked. On Nico’s side, the strategy set before the race was also a one-stop, but we managed to switch it on time and Nico kept his head down when he slipped in the leaderboard.
“He was then able to regain positions on Soft tyres at the end thanks to clever fuel management at the beginning of the race,” Abiteboul concluded.
