Daniel Ricciardo praises "encouraging signs" from Renault in second F1 pre-season test

As the sun set on the final day of Formula One pre-season testing, Aussie Daniel Ricciardo said he could be “pretty happy” with his contribution.

Over the six days of testing, the Renault Sport F1 team posted 743 laps, with Daniel in the driver’s seat for 367 of them.

“I’m pretty happy with my running today and finishing top of the timesheets in the morning session was a bonus,” said the Perth native, “so it’s a nice way to round-off pre-season testing. But it is testing, so I’m not getting overly excited about it.”

The sole Australian F1 driver commented on technical issues the team had faced during the test. “In the morning we resolved a few issues from yesterday, and looking back at the week as a whole, it has been positive for us. We’ve improved the overall balance of the car, worked through some set-up changes and our reliability has been strong.”

“I believe we’ve cranked up more kilometres on the engine tests back at Viry than we’ve ever had before, so this combined with our results over the two tests are ultimately encouraging signs ahead of the start of the season in Australia.”