Renault Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo says he’s expecting an “interesting” grand prix this weekend as Formula 1 celebrates its 70th Anniversary with a second race at Silverstone.
Last weekend’s British GP saw both leading Mercedes cars suffer tyre failures along with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, which Pirelli blamed on “the biggest forces ever seen” going through its tyres thanks to Silverstone’s high-speed layout and the fastest F1 cars in history.
It was also down to a long final stint for almost all the cars as the majority of the field stopped early on during a Safety Car and wanted to avoid making a second stop, meaning they pushed the tyres past what Pirelli recommended.
But with softer tyres this weekend and higher temperatures expected, Ricciardo reckons drivers will have no choice but to make two stops.
“We’ll be hoping for a similar result, that’s for sure,” he said, having finished fourth last weekend. “And, who knows, maybe we can!
“I think the weather looks to be hot again all weekend and that will bring some challenges. It was also very windy at Silverstone and that makes things tricky in a Formula 1 car.
“We’re heading a step softer on tyres, which will certainly be interesting. We don’t see that many two-stop races and this one should be a two-stopper, so we’ll see what happens there.
“The aim will be to nail our qualifying and see if we can sneak a little further up for the start. Our race pace has been good, so let’s see what we can do.”
Meanwhile Renault engineering director, Matt Harman, revealed that the RS.20. will receive some updates he hopes will make them more competitive.
“There will be some new challenges this weekend,” he added. “The tyres are a compound softer so that will change our race and qualifying strategy. We’ve looked through some simulations and which car setup to take for the weekend.
“We have some interesting mechanical developments to go on the car in very specific areas. This will allow us to improve our performance, and also help our understanding for next year’s car, which is an evolution of the current one.”
