Ricciardo praises Renault progress on high-downforce tracks

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Daniel Ricciardo says that todays performance in qualifying for the Eifel Grand Prix shows how much progress Renault has made on high-downforce circuits over the course of the season so far.

He said that the team hadn't been fully aware of the challenge presented to the R.S.20 by the Nurburgring until they finally got out on track, a day late after poor weather meant no running in Friday's free practice sessions.

"This is pretty much a maximum downforce circuit, and these are the ones which we have shown most of our weaknesses on [in the past]," he told the media after the end of the session. "Even Mugello wasn’t maximum downforce.

Read also: Bottas on top after pipping Hamilton to Eifel GP pole

"This is more like Barcelona, where we have struggled more, so it confirms the progress the team has made."

Both he and his team mate Esteban Ocon successfully made it through to the final pole shoot-out round and will start from sixth and seventh on the grid respectively in tomorrow's race.

“Solid one from the team again, sixth and seventh,” Ricciardo acknowledged. "Sixth is alright. We can have a good one from there.

"I did another quick lap in Q2 and couldn’t quite get it together in Q3, but I don’t think it made a difference to the position."

Ricciardo has Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Alex Albon in his sights immediately ahead of him on the grid, and admits that he didn't have the pace to challenge them in today's session.

"Charles and Alex were a couple of tenths ahead and I didn’t quite have that," he admitted. "Everyone was on track at a similar time, so it was quite enjoyable.

"We know it will be close in the race, but I’m excited and I think we can be up there and aim for a top six finish.

"We’ll see how the soft [compound tyre] holds up, as it looks like it could be susceptible to graining. If it’s dry or wet, it should be an interesting race."

Ricciardo and Ocon will also have to be wary of the threat from behind, which includes McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.

"We’re happy with that qualifying result," said Renault sporting director Alan Permane. "Sixth and seventh, ahead of our immediate championship rivals, gives us a very strong basis for the race.

"We will of course be keeping one eye on the weather, even though we are expecting it to be a dry day.

"Overall it’s been a positive start to this shortened weekend and are looking forward to a good race tomorrow.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.