Ricciardo and Hülkenberg bring smiles back to Renault

Is the 2019 season of the Renault F1 Team finally underway? This is at least what the excellent overall performance of the team during the Canadian Grand Prix suggests, where the two home drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg, managed to score as many points in a single race as in the first six Grand Prix.

It is now known that the French single-seaters had not been at their full potential since the catastrophic start of the season, particularly from a reliability standpoint. The failure of a connecting rod on Hülkenberg’s engine in Bahrain forced the Enstone engineers to reduce the performance of their power unit by 50% in order to find the root cause of the issue.

Since Monaco, the RS19’s power unit has returned to 100% of its potential, and on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve track, designed for engine performance, the long-awaited result has finally arrived: « This weekend is nothing less than the model of what we set as a goal and the demonstration that we are capable of achieving it. It must continue in the upcoming races, and Daniel’s 6th place and Nico’s 7th, the best possible at this stage under normal conditions, kick-start our season. » confirms Cyril Abiteboul, the team manager of the French team.

Daniel Ricciardo, so discreet since the beginning of the season, finally delivered a performance worthy of his talent with a remarkable 4th place in qualifying. The race was a bit less flamboyant, despite a battle for a few laps with Bottas’s Mercedes, but the Australian still finished in a convincing 6th place, ahead of his teammate: « I did everything I could on track and I’m happy with the final result. It’s the first double points finish for the team this year, and it pays off with sixth and seventh places. We can’t ask for much more. There are clearly positive signs to take away. We know the leading teams are better at this stage, but it was still very fun to fight against Valtteri [Bottas] for a few laps. Our approach is realistic, but the team should be proud of this weekend. They have the will and determination necessary to move forward, and it’s really encouraging. » said the former Red Bull driver, satisfied after the race.

We know @danielricciardo is a supreme overtaker…

In Montreal, he put his defensive skills on show 🛡️

And a superb P6 finish was the reward 💪#CanadianGP 🇨🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/2SC1c6zjQ9

— Formula 1 (@F1) 9 juin 2019

On Nico Hülkenberg’s side, the race was more anonymous but just as solid. In the final laps, the German even caught up to his teammate but, out of caution, his team wisely asked him not to attempt anything in order to secure a much-needed result after a poor start to the season: « We can be satisfied today, as it is an excellent team result. I had a good pace throughout the race, took care of the soft tires, and was able to enjoy fresher ones at the end. I had to ease off a bit to avoid overheating, and we were therefore content with this solid result for the team. We leave with smiles on our faces. The last three or four weekends had been compromised for various reasons, but today we exploited the car’s full potential. It is a great reward for the immense work done by the team, both in Enstone and Viry, and we must now maintain this momentum. » concluded the German.

#CanadianGP done. Here’s our weekend in 56secs of photos for you to enjoy whilst we travel back to HQ!#RSspirit pic.twitter.com/WxfSqBxeeL

— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) 10 juin 2019