Daniel Ricciardo admits the focus at Renault is on heading to Australia as well prepared as possible rather than making competitive predictions.
There were signs that the French manufacturer has made progress over the winter with new teammate Nico Hulkenberg the fastest midfield driver and Ricciardo producing some respectable longer runs.
What does seem clear, however, is closing the gap to the front three outfits remains stubbornly difficult for Renault, meaning the man from Perth may be having a more subdued home race in 2019.
“It’s been a pretty good week and we’ve done a decent amount of laps with some consistent running,” Ricciardo said reflecting on testing.
“It will take some time to catch the front teams but that is not what we expected to happen at winter testing and we are very realistic about that.
“At the same time, it’s impossible to make accurate performance predictions. We still have work to do and things to improve on and that’s what we’ll focus on now.”
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That's because the former Red Bull driver acknowledges Renault's priority won't be how they start the new season, it's how they finish it.
“We will dissect the data we’ve harnessed over the past days back at the factory," Ricciardo explained.
"We are making progress but the bigger steps will happen gradually going forward. I’m heading to Melbourne feeling that I belong here and I just want to go racing now!”
