Daniel Ricciardo says Renault's power unit upgrade provides no noticeable benefits for Red Bull and is not an improvement.
Renault introduced an upgraded power unit for the first time at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix with Red Bull having opted not to use it in the United States or Mexico. Ricciardo felt little difference during Friday practice but was hopeful progress could be made on Saturday, but after qualifying ninth he admits it is no better than the previous specification.
"For the grid penalty no [it was not worth it], but for us getting some clarity on where it is, yes," Ricciardo said. "It was a realisation in some respects, and now at least we can … we tried it, we’ve seen it has not really given us anything, so back to the drawing board for Renault, and obviously we’ve got to try and find some more from it.
"I don’t regret testing it. We had to try, we had to see if there was any sort of positives from it, if what they saw on the dyno was replicated by what we felt on track, but in hindsight it didn’t really give us any lap time, so for now it is a penalty for a little bit of knowledge."
Saying there were no benefits he could feel from the power unit, Ricciardo said it at least rules out a direction for Renault to take in 2016.
"Yes, exactly, for those reasons definitely I feel that it has been a good thing that we’ve done it. It is like this is what it is, and we need something better, or we need to try a different path or something if we are going to continue together next year. It is like we have taken a hit [short term] but long term we will be better off because of what we have learned."
REPORT: Rosberg takes fifth pole in a row by 0.078s
AS IT HAPPENED: Brazilian Grand Prix - qualifying
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