Renault DP World F1 Team duo made Q3 for the second time this year putting the team in a promising position for points on Sunday’s race at the British Grand Prix.
The weekend hasn’t gone without issues for Daniel Ricciardo so far. From Fridays free practice sessions, his RS20 picked up a hairline fracture meaning the chassis was replaced overnight.
Ricciardo also got caught by a red flag in Q2 when on a flying lap due to a rare spin at Luffield from six-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
That did not stop the Aussie from reaching Q3 making his third appearance in the final shoot out this year. Despite tricky conditions, Ricciardo managed to qualify in eighth.
“I’m happy with eighth place today, especially in quite tricky conditions. It was a clean lap, no mistakes, nothing too spectacular, but good enough for eighth and just short of seventh.
“It was pretty close there with a few of us within half a second of each other. We’ve been in and around the top 10 all weekend, so we can be pleased with today’s performance.
“Tomorrow’s race will be interesting, especially in the battle for sixth or maybe fifth position. We’re starting on the Softs, as are most people around us, so we’ll see what we can do. Taking home good points is the target.”
Ocon Pleased after ‘Positive’ Silverstone Qualifying
Team-mate Esteban Ocon also shared the success with Ricciardo in getting into Q3 for a second time this year. Ocon had been strong all session and was looking the better of the two Renault’s.
Despite this, the Frenchman was beaten by his team-mate and had to settle for ninth, although he was able to out-qualify Scuderia Ferrari‘s Sebastian Vettel.
“It’s been a good qualifying overall. It was a very positive session, especially Q1 and Q2, where we were quite comfortable.
“We lost it a little bit in Q3, so we’ll review what happened there. I’m happy with the progress from Hungary and we need to keep going.
“We seem to have better pace on Sundays, and qualifying has been the area where we’ve needed to find the most improvements. I think tomorrow will be good, we’re in amongst the top 10 and we have a good opportunity for some decent points.”
“Our race pace, as ever, looks very strong” – Alan Permane
Alan Permane, Renaults sporting director, is optimistic going into the race citing the cars race pace looks strong from simulations.
“It was a tricky session with the conditions as the wind was picking up between Q1 and Q2, which made it difficult and often unpredictable, especially in the very high-speed corners here.
“We’re very happy to have both cars in Q3, of course, and we have promising starting positions on the grid. Now, we look forward to a trouble-free race tomorrow.
“Our race pace, as ever, looks very strong from our Friday simulations, so we will look to capitalise on our start positions and make sure we score decent points in the race.”
