Daniel Ricciardo: Renault angered but motivated by Japanese GP punishment

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo: Renault angered but motivated by Japanese GP punishment

They had their Suzuka points taken away.

Martin Macdonald

Friday 25 October 2019 15:00

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Daniel Ricciardo says Renault are going to use the punishment they received by the FIA with regards to the Japanese Grand Prix as motivation to put in a performance at the next race in Mexico on Sunday.

At Suzuka, Ricciardo finished sixth and Nico Hulkenberg finished 10th, but these results, and the points gained, were disqualified after the pair were adjudged to have received a driving aid in the form of the car’s brake balance system.

Renault have since decided not to dispute the decision, and the former Red Bull man wants everyone to move on and use the “anger” of having points taken away as impetus to perform again.

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"We’re angry and frustrated, but as a team we are like ‘screw this and let’s go get these points we lost’, so it’s motivation," Ricciardo insisted.

"You use the bad days as motivation I think that’s the best thing and the good days you appreciate them.

"The race was nearly two weeks ago. I did what I could in the race to have a good one, I thought the race was a good one so obviously, yeah, the points are gone now but there was nothing I could have done differently or whatever.

"We have to brush it off and move forward.

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"If we keep dwelling on the misfortunes or whatever circumstances we’ve had this year then we’ll probably always feel sorry for ourselves."

Renault had aspirations of bridging the gap to the top three before the season started, but a series of engine issues, or simply just poor performances, have seen McLaren emerge as the fourth-best team instead.

Ricciardo laments the fact the team hasn’t gained any “momentum” due to their various issues.

"I do feel like this year it’s been tough for us to get momentum and coming in as a team with pretty high expectations to build on what they had last year, and it hasn’t really been that way so far," explained.

"And when we do get something going, something like this happens or my penalty in Singapore. It’s been hard for us to have momentum and have a real string of races.

"I feel like something always seems to be getting in the way. But again, if we just sit here and say 'poor us' then we aren’t really going to move forwards. There’s nothing else to do.

"We’ve got a double-header and I think for everyone in the paddock this is probably the favourite double-header of the year, so I think we should just use that happiness and positivity to try and get some good results."