Testing the 2018 car 'shows the progress F1 has made' - Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo has said testing Renault's 2018 Formula 1 car demonstrated to him how far the team has come in two-years.

Testing the 2018 car at the Red Bull Ring last week, Ricciardo told the F1 Nation that, despite being disappointed with the 2019 car, he can now see that there had been steps forward from the previous campaign.

“It wasn’t as good, so there were improvements last year," said Ricciardo.

“But obviously, we did get to drive the RS20 in testing before all this started. It’s come a long way in two years, I’ll say that.

“It actually was quite nice driving a two-year-old car, because it shows you the progress the sport makes.”

Making his return to a Formula 1 cockpit for the first time since the close of pre-season testing in February, Ricciardo said it didn't take too long to get back into the swing of things.

He added: “It was firstly good. Good to get back into it. The first few laps it felt a little foreign, but it’s also like all things, like when you’ve been doing something pretty much your whole life, it doesn’t take long till you remember the feeling and it all feels very normal, very quickly. “Certainly getting in the first time, leaving the pits and the first few laps felt a little strange, but I’m really glad we got to do it, because I think just shaking off the cobwebs, even the general body soreness that you get after the first day, I feel like I’ve gone through that now.

“It was just good to get back into work mode. I think, as much as quarantine was nice on the farm, I did miss serious competition and serious work.”

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