Daniel Ricciardo has asserted that Renault has already unearthed a “strong direction” for its 2020 Formula 1 paddock, amid a relative lack of year-on-year progress in 2019.
Renault, having led the midfield battle last year, has slipped behind McLaren this season, and has remained entrenched within the mid-grid scrap that it had hoped to clear.
Ricciardo has scored points at only six of this year’s 12 grands prix, though his haul in those events has been sufficient to see him sit ninth in the standings.
“Since the [summer] break I’ve felt like we’ve got on top of it better,” said Ricciardo.
“We’ve had consistency on different types of tracks. Lap 1 incidents, penalties, this and that, so it has not been that smooth for us.
“But I definitely feel like…we got little updates here and there, a front wing [in Japan], so we are still improving the car a little bit.
“What we’ve really got now is a better understanding of it.
“Since the break we understood a lot more with the car. So whatever ends up happening this year [with] points, championship and all that, I feel like we’ve got a strong direction on next year.
“Then it is can we produce the car? I think we’ve got a pretty good understanding of what we need for next year, and just some target areas.
“So I am definitely optimistic we can nail a few of those for the 2020 car.”
Ricciardo will be joined by Esteban Ocon at Renault next season.