F1 News
Renault “have to accept” McLaren have been better
- Bevan Youl
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo has said that “we have to accept” that rivals McLaren have been better than them and change their focus to beating them in 2020 rather than hoping for a chance at fourth placed finish.
The French manufacturer finished P4 last year, looking to gain on those in front but rather tailed off on their performances, slipping behind McLaren.
The Woking-based team lead Renault by 38 points and have produced their best season after switching engines from Honda and Renault.
“They have been a target for us this year, but now that we are pretty much at the end of the year, we have to accept that they have been better than us this year,” said Ricciardo as quoted by MotorsportWeek.
“More times than not they are going to be faster than us. It is just how it is. To be disappointed that they are in front now does not make sense anymore because we have to accept that at the moment they are in front.
“We are not going to give up but looking ahead to next year hopefully we can bring them back towards us.
“They have made gains on the front of the field so ideally we make gains on the front with them as opposed to them falling back to us.”
With a new driver line-up of Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon the French team are looking to continue their plan of getting to the front of the grid since they returned to the sport in 2016 as a works team.