Daniel Ricciardo says he knew he had to “figure out” Renault’s R.S.19 quickly in order to prevent team-mate Nico Hulkenberg from getting the upper hand.
Ricciardo switched from Red Bull to Renault for 2019 but conceded early on that he was still having to get used to driving a car with less downforce than one to which he had become accustomed.
Ricciardo went on to emerge as Renault’s leader after the opening few events, out-qualifying Hulkenberg, and out-scoring him 54-37 in the final standings.
“At the start of the year after Bahrain I was a bit down, albeit it was only the second race of the year,” said Ricciardo.
“I was more down on my performance in terms of … it is not that easy to come in and bring this car up.
“The reality of me reaching my potential in a car that was difficult, at times I was like this is not going to be as easy as I thought.
“But then Shanghai and that was a good weekend. That was the best of the rest weekend.
“I didn’t get to a point where I regretted it [joining Renault] or was questioning it. But [it was] more on myself. Can I do this?
“With Nico, he is experienced and has been in the midfield pack for a long time, and I could already see that, and I was like I can’t let him build too much confidence early because it is just going to get harder for me.
“So I was aware that I had to figure it out quickly.”
Ricciardo added that “relatively speaking I am ok with this season. It was always going to be difficult.
“Coming into a new team, people have done it before so it is not impossible to do. But coming from a higher level car to a lower… coming into a car with more grip is normally easier.
“There are more expectations, but it does more things that you wanted it to do.
“That is easier than going from Red Bull to here. How I adapted to that, I was quite happy, but in a few races, I was not happy with myself, I expected more, but I developed well.”
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