2019 a 'fresh start' for Renault, says Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that, although it would be beneficial to see Renault continue to improve race by race before the end of the season, the 2019 Formula 1 campaign presents the team with a "fresh start" to try and get the most out of their new vehicle.

During the summer break in 2018, Ricciardo surprised most when it was announced he would be leaving Red Bull at the end of the season to join Renault on a multi-year contract starting in 2019.

The Australian has two race victories to his name this campaign, but his downturn in form has coincided with that of his future team, Renault, who have suffered from engine reliability and car design problems in the second portion of the season.

Ricciardo remains positive about Renault's chances next year, however, particularly because of the brand new engine being in place.

"It’s encouraging, obviously," Ricciardo said when asked during the United States GP press conference whether the prospect of a new engine gave him hope for the French manufacturer.

"When I signed, I knew that there was work ahead but I know that they’re putting a lot of effort into making things better and expanding a lot of departments and trying to make ’19 stronger and ’20 and whatever.

"Yeah, the way the last few races have been this year, obviously, it would be nice to see them improve every race and whatever but I honestly don’t look into it too much yet. I think ’19 is a new car and it’s going to be a fresh start again, so I’m not spending too much energy on that at the moment.

Ricciardo is still driving for Red Bull for the remaining races in 2018, and he assures that when this season is done he can focus more on helping Renault with their preparations for next year.

"Obviously, all I can do is, once my year’s done is try to be fully immersed into it all and try to help as much as I can and see how things go from there," he added.

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