Daniel Ricciardo challenges Renault to prove all-round strength in Singapore

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo challenges Renault to prove all-round strength in Singapore

Where will Dan finish in Marina Bay?

Matthew Scott

Monday 16 September 2019 18:00

Daniel Ricciardo hopes Renault will prove to an all-round threat at the Singapore Grand Prix after strong showings at the high-speed Belgian and Italian grands prix.

Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg qualified sixth and seventh at Spa-Francorchamps, but were dropped back down the grid by engine penalties, with Hulkenberg recovering to the points.

Monza was a happy hunting ground for the red team, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg lining up fifth and sixth on the grid and gaining a place each by the chequered flag thanks to Sebastian Vettel's shocker.

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Renault have historically struggled at the high-speed tracks, something that impacted Ricciardo during his Red Bull days and the Australian is excited to test Renault's potential at one of the slower tracks this week in Marina Bay.

"We finally got 'maximum' points, if you know what I mean, and that's really pleasing," he said of the Italian GP result.

"I want to kind of give an extra special shout-out to Viry, to the engine boys. I think to get this sort of result with the Renault team and power unit is quite a statement.

"Every year we [went to Monza] and it feels like there's a lack of optimism. At least, over the last few years it was never a strength of ours. And for them to turn it around this year to make the gains and put on this result is special.

"Hopefully we can learn something from these low-downforce circuits and take it into a high-downforce one, like Singapore.

"For sure, the package we've got on those circuits is great so coming into Singapore I think there's a lot of things we can learn with a high-downforce and take something from there.

"We definitely seemed stronger on these higher-speed flowing parts. But it doesn't mean we can't get it right on low speed. So we'll do some homework and hopefully it's an encouraging result for the boys at Enstone and particularly Viry."