Daniel Ricciardo wants “a bit more presence” at Renault going in 2020

Daniel Ricciardo has said that he wants to have “a bit more presence” at Renault going into the 2020 season to help get the team into a “momentum” before testing in Barcelona.

Ricciardo switched from Aston Martin Red Bull Racing to Renault at the end of 2018 for a fresh start but endured a difficult season with the French team that finished fourth last year being beaten by McLaren and finishing one place lower this year.
 
The Australian’s highest finish throughout 2019 was fourth in Monza and finished 9th on 54 points in the championship but feels he has some ideas to help the team goin into 2020.

 “For next year I’ve got some ideas of things I can do more or better,” Ricciardo said as quoted by Crash.net.

“I feel like I integrated myself into the team well this year, but I look back and am like I can do more.

“I want to have a bit more presence before the season starts, before testing, but also have some ideas which of things we can do together as a team to get us into the season - not just technically, but as a team unit I want to get to Barcelona feeling like we got some momentum before the season even starts.

“Even some team morale stuff, call it team building and some activities. More importantly to spend time with the team, even away from the track.”

Ricciardo says that sometimes, due to how busy race weekends can be he may only get a “hi” from Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

“At the track even like with Cyril sometimes it is 'hi' and that is all you get over the weekend because we are busy,” he added.

“So you don’t always get good quality time at the circuit.

“I feel that to take this relationship to the next level, getting time away from the track is good.

“Just having that feeling, even for the guys, if they know each other a bit more, they will want to work a little bit harder for each other and make some good stuff happen.”