Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Renault progress as expected - Ricciardo

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Daniel Ricciardo says Renault made the expected step forwards with its power unit over the winter.

Red Bull and Renault's relationship became strained in 2015 due to reliability and performance issues, leading Red Bull to re-badge the power units as Tag Heuer's this year. Having been expecting to fight for the championship last season, Ricciardo has set more modest targets for the start of 2016 but is happy with the improvement shown from the power unit this year.

Asked if Renault's progress is in line with expectations, Ricciardo replied: "I think for now it is.

"We got a little bit more out of it, and we were able to run a few more settings which will be representative to what we will have in Melbourne.

"We know the first few races not to expect too much, but then we should get some steps after that. For now we are on target. It does feel a bit better, but of course there is more to come, hopefully, once we get to Europe."

And Ricciardo says he trusts Renault will deliver on planned upgrades as a result of the improvements made over the winter.

"We have more understanding, more experience and better execution. The whole team has given us a lot of confidence that we will find bigger steps with the power unit. They have told us to be conservative for the first few races and not expect too much until we get back to Barcelona and Monaco where we can get a big step to get closer to the front.

"Already we are on the right path and testing has been a lot better for us than it has been for the past two years and the first signs are good."

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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.