F1 News
Ricciardo: 'We found the sweet spot in the car'
- GPblog.com
Renault had something to celebrate last weekend after the Belgian Grand Prix. For the first time in almost a year they finished fourth (Ricciardo) and fifth (Ocon). This is also a good starting point for the upcoming races, partly because Ricciardo also managed to grab the point for the fastest lap. In other words, the Renault is performing well and can reasonably keep up with the head of the field. Only Verstappen and Mercedes are still too fast.
What happened at Renault?
Renault is optimistic. They have been struggling for years to connect and the positive result in Belgium is a boost. In Formula 1, however, everything can be different a week later, so the starting point now doesn't necessarily mean much for the future. We'll see more next Sunday, so logically the eyes are on the French race stable.
But where does the sudden speed and confidence come from? Ricciardo will discuss this in more detail with the Spanish Marca. "This is something we learned from the first weekend at Silverstone. We got something out of the set-up, like a nice place and we feel like we've found it."
"I found it especially in terms of the feeling with the car. It was like: "Yes, this is what we need to get the car working", says Ricciardo about the feeling discovery that led to the sweet spot. "It was in the second free practice session that I thought we had found the sweet spot. There is something fundamental about what I think we have in hand."
"I think we can make this configuration work with a high aerodynamic load because it's not specific to a low load. We can make it work at all levels." So Renault found something in the car that clearly helped them, but Ricciardo obviously doesn't go into details in that respect.
"I'm not sure if we had something like this last year, such a discovery. This has been encouraging. A set-up on the car that works better gives the car much more grip." What obviously helps is that Renault is going to Monza with confidence as Ricciardo comes fourth in 2019. With what they have now found, the confidence seems to be back with the team.
Or in the words of the Australian: "We are going there with a lot of confidence because it was already a good track for us last year."