Renault’s subdued result at Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix should be a one-off, according to Daniel Ricciardo, after the marque failed to score a point for the first time in 2020.
Both Ricciardo and team-mate Esteban Ocon dropped out in Q2 and in a relatively processional race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya made little positional gains.
Ricciardo classified in 11th position while Ocon recorded 13th position, meaning Renault missed out on a top 10 finish.
“I certainly hope that this weekend was a bit of an anomaly, a bit of an Achilles’ heel for us,” said Ricciardo.
“Everyone is so familiar with this track, and to find something extra is challenging. But we have had good pace all year, and this did not quite correlate to that. Hopefully it is a one off.
“We will try and learn from it, but hopefully come Spa and Monza these are tracks where we normally are pretty strong on. We should have a better run and put this one behind us.”
In spite of the lack of points Ricciardo and Renault were firmly in the midfield mix throughout the weekend.
Ricciardo missed out on a Q3 spot by less than 0.040s while in race trim was only four seconds behind the one-stopping Sebastian Vettel, who finished seventh.
“I’m still convinced that we can be a points car every other weekend,” he said.
“Even in qualifying if we had that extra half a tenth, we start in the points and we probably would’ve finished there.
“We have just got to be perfect, and that goes on to us drivers as well. We can’t put a foot wrong because this midfield battle is so, so tight.”
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