Ricciardo: Renault needs to regain winning mentality

Daniel Ricciardo has urged Renault to rediscover a winning mentality to continue its progress up the Formula 1 pecking order and feels a key breakthrough was made earlier this season at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Since switching from Red Bull to the French manufacturer over the winter, Ricciardo has endured mixed fortunes with four points finishes from the opening 12 races.

With time to adjust into the Renault fold, the Australian driver has reflected on the key differences between his old team and the French squad and feels it must find a “certain level of confidence” to match the mentality of the likes of Red Bull.

“From day one when I walked in there were already quite a few things already in place, from an engineering point of view and the structure of personnel and meetings. Analysis of everything, tyre analysis, chassis development, all this,” Ricciardo said.

“But I’d say that the big thing I probably felt was when I joined Red Bull, they were already winners. I noticed when I came here there was a bit of as lack of confidence because they had not won in a long time.

“It is not arrogance, just in the team there is a certain level of confidence or pride, which I didn’t feel was at Red Bull’s level. For good reason. But we are trying to get that going.”

Ricciardo believes the Canadian Grand Prix acted as a catalyst for a mindset change inside Renault when he qualified in fourth place, with teammate Nico Hulkenberg in seventh place, before the pair led the F1 midfield fight in sixth and seventh respectively in the race.

“In Canada that was a moment I thought things had really changed,” he explained. “We qualified fourth and everyone was happy, but it wasn’t like we’d won the world title. It was like, alright we belong here now, so there was a really switch.

“That is half the battle with anything. As a driver as well, we are all talented at this level, but it is like that mentality, do you have what it takes to really believe that you can do it. It is the same with the team, mechanics and engineers.

“If they’ve got that mentality to really believe they can make they step, then that’s half the battle. That’s big thing I’ve seen which, which is positive.”

Renault suffered a poor pair of races before the F1 summer break, failing to score a single point in Germany and Hungary, which has seen the team slip to sixth place in the constructors’ standings - 43 points behind midfield leaders McLaren.