Seat issue frustrates Ricciardo on difficult day for Renault
Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated after a difficult day of practice running for Renault ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that saw both of the team's cars lose track time due to issues.
In his first grand prix weekend session appearance for Renault following his winter move from Red Bull, Ricciardo could only manage 20 laps in FP1 as teammate Nico Hulkenberg was sidelined for much of the session by an electrical issue.
Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated after a difficult day of practice running for Renault ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that saw both of the team's cars lose track time due to issues.
In his first grand prix weekend session appearance for Renault following his winter move from Red Bull, Ricciardo could only manage 20 laps in FP1 as teammate Nico Hulkenberg was sidelined for much of the session by an electrical issue.
Ricciardo lost track time himself early in FP2 due to a problem with his seat, before the Australian eventually finished the day eighth-fastest, just behind his teammate.
"To be honest it was a bit more of a difficult day, and then we got the one lap in with the soft tyre at the end of FP2 which put us in a more competitive place," Ricciardo said.
"The long run wasn’t that good, either. We were a bit up and down. There’s still a lot to learn with the car and still some ways to set it up and a few little tricks here and there.
"Nico obviously has a bit more knowledge with that, so [I'm] just trying to understand a bit of that direction, and for now I’ll probably learn a few things from him and maybe as time goes on he’ll learn some things from me.
"I think the car doesn’t look too bad for now."
Asked about the problem at the start of second practice, Ricciardo explained how a measurement issue meant his seatbelt was not fitting properly.
"It was just a bit frustrating, we wanted to go out. It was frustrating for the mechanics as well," Ricciardo said.
"I don’t know what was going on with the belt, because the measurements weren’t adding up. I haven’t got fat, I know that’s what you’re about to ask me! I haven’t actually been eating that much this week, I’ve been too busy to be eating.
"It’s a bit of a time delay and I could tell everyone was getting frustrated, but it was all good, we finally got some laps in.
"The short run at the end was okay, long run not so good. Still got some things to learn with the car."
Additional reporting by Michael Lamonato.
