Breaking news
Formula 1
Ricciardo: Set-up "sweet spot" has transformed Renault
Daniel Ricciardo says a set-up "discovery" that first emerged at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix has been key to getting his Renault in to a sweet spot of performance.
Jonathan Noble
Published: Sep 1, 2020, 1:06 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The French car manufacturer is heading to the Italian Grand Prix bullish about its chances after an encouraging showing in Belgium last weekend.
Ricciardo and teammate Esteban Ocon finished fourth and fifth at Spa for its best result of the season, as the duo now eye a potential podium at Monza.
While the strong Spa form was helped by the Renault being better balanced in low-downforce configuration, Ricciardo thinks that of equal importance is a set-up configuration that he first nailed in Friday practice at the second Silverstone race.
"There is definitely something we picked up from Silverstone – like a sweet spot," he said.
"I found it in terms of feeling in the car: 'right, this is where we need to run the car'. And we played around a bit here as well this weekend with it.
"And again there was one session, I think it was in FP2, where I was like: 'okay we found the sweet spot.' So there is something fundamental which I think we've got a good choke hold on."
Read Also:
Ricciardo feels that Renault now understands a lot more about the strengths of its RS20 car – and is hopeful that the set-up will carry over to higher downforce tracks too.
"I think we can get it working on high downforce tracks," he said. "It's not typical to low downforce. We can run it on all levels, so I think it's just finding what works best with a high downforce.
"It certainly brings the car alive. So yeah that's something which I'm pretty confident in: where the RS20 likes to be run.
"And I'm not sure we had something like this last year. I'm not sure we had like a real discovery like this last year, so that that's been encouraging."
Ricciardo suggests that the transformation of the Renault in low-downforce trim could even be good enough for it to consider trying out some radical ideas in terms of wing choice at other venues.
"I think we have to assess, because obviously a lot of the time you go to a high downforce circuit and you just don't even question it," he said.
"We put the big wing on because that's going to be fastest, but I don't know. I wonder if we try running lower at some typical high [downforce] circuits, and accept that that's a weakness now, and maybe see if we can make something work more with a smaller wing."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Hamilton "broke down" at news of Boseman's death
Next article Ferrari explains Leclerc's pneumatic dramas at Spa
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Dec 28, 2024
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Daniel Ricciardo
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
Formula 1 17 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Formula 1
Formula 1 9 d
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
WEC
WEC 15 d
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
More from
Renault F1 Team
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
15 d
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brazilian GP
22 d
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
Formula 1
You Ask The Questions: Robert Kubica
Latest news
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Formula E
FE Formula E 5 min
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 28 min
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe