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Ricciardo: 'A lot less friction' between Red Bull and Renault

Daniel Ricciardo says "there is a lot less friction" between Red Bull and Renault than there was 12 months ago as a result of consistent improvements.

Red Bull threatened to quit F1 if it didn't receive a competitive power unit, publicly blaming Renault for poor performance during 2015 as the team failed to win a race. Eventually a new deal was signed which sees Red Bull badge the power units as Tag Heuer, and progress over the winter was boosted further by a recent Renault upgrade.

With Red Bull threatening Mercedes and Ferrari during qualifying at a power sensitive track, Ricciardo - who will start from fourth on the grid in the Canadian Grand Prix - says the atmosphere in the team is much better than a year ago.

"It has been really encouraging and nice to see," Ricciardo said of Red Bull's improvement this season. "Last year was, especially this time last year, we were not looking too good, and things weren’t really looking like they were going to get better quickly.

"In the end we turned it around after the next few races after Canada. But we were 1.5 seconds from pole last year, a long way off, and we are a lot closer now, so it is good that it has not just come from the car. We have got the big chunk from the power unit, so it is nice that both packages are working together.

"That has been the real big thing for us, and then the teamwork between the guys with the power unit and the guys here at the team, there is a lot less friction than there was last year.

"Everyone is in a lot more positive happy place so it helps the morale within the team. We are more motivated to keep improving what we have got."

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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.