Ricciardo buoyed by Renault 'promising' performance at Spa

Daniel Ricciardo heads to Monza bolstered by the performance of his Renault R.S.19 last weekend at Spa, where only unlucky circumstances deprived the Aussie of a top-ten finish.

Ricciardo found himself on the back foot from the outset in last Sunday's race when a contact with Racing Point's Lance Stroll during the tumultuous exit from the first corner at the start left him with a damaged floor.

The seven-time Grand Prix winner was challenged thereafter to deliver a points finish to his team, contrary to teammate Nico Hulkenberg who finished eighth.

• Ricciardo struggled to race after Hubert tragedy

Ricciardo was nevertheless encouraged by his performance which he believes bodes well for this weekend's race at Monza's Temple of Speed.

"It was promising - and I think even in the race, with such a damaged car, we held on pretty well," he said, quoted by Motorsport.com.

"From the weekend itself, I think it was a very very strong weekend for us on pace. And coming into some of these other more low-downforce circuits, like Monza and that, I think it's promising.

"So we've just got to keep it rolling. Obviously we've missed out on double points, I think we definitely could've got a good handful, but we'll move on."

Ricciardo admitted that the damaged inflicted to his car's floor on the opening lap following his contact with Stroll was significant and made for a "wonky" ride through Spa's daunting Eau Rouge.

"All the right side of the car, the floor, was pretty much missing" he explained. "I wouldn't say it was damaged, it was non-existent anymore.

"I reported it as soon as it happened and I remember going through Eau Rouge and the car was very wonky, to be polite. So I came in the pits.

"I thought maybe we're going to retire the car because I suspected there was lot of damage, and then we put the mediums on and went out there, and even though it was a handful, it didn't seem the pace of the others was that strong.

"Eau Rouge is pretty easy full these days in these cars, but every lap through there if I was full I was holding my breath and otherwise I was lifting.

"It was a handful. But yeah, I was pretty proud actually we held on for that long, but at the end we couldn't obviously do any more."

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