Daniel Ricciardo struggled to find the sweet spot as Renault endured a disappointing end to practice in Monaco.
A two-time pole sitter on the streets of Monte Carlo, the Australian was only 17th fastest in the second session on Thursday.
But Ricciardo doesn’t believe wholesale changes are needed to put himself back into midfield contention.
“We can definitely be better than what I was today,” he told Crash.net. “But we do have to address the issues we had.
“If we do gain that little bit then, this is one of those places where you get a bit more confidence, then the lap time will come. Hopefully, we will find it in the next 24 hours.”
Also Read:
- Ricciardo: Confidence will be key to a good Monaco result
- Ricciardo not 'discouraged' by Renault's early season problems
Providing the optimism is Renault’s pace in the first session, when Ricciardo was P11 and Nico Hulkenberg P7.
“The morning was pretty good and the initial signs were quite positive. I felt like I was able to get up to speed and into a rhythm quickly,” he added.
“We had a bit of optimism for the afternoon to build on that, but the changes didn’t seem to help. I didn’t feel as pleased with the car in the afternoon.
“We could not improve much on what we did in the morning.”
On where his Renault could be better, Ricciardo admitted “everywhere” but would highlight some areas.
“In myself, I know that there is a little bit of lap time, but not the second we are looking for,” he said. “So there will be a bit in me, but in the car, it is a bit everywhere. The middle sector can be better, in the tight twisty stuff.
“I’m still driving around here with some confidence, but there are a few places where I want to be able to come off the brakes a bit sooner and carry that speed through.
“We pinpointed a few areas and will give the guys some homework to try and work on. I will still try to figure out a few places I can get more out of myself.”
As for Hulkenberg, he blamed traffic for his lowly 16th place but also acknowledged he needed more from the car.
“In a way, good to have a day off to pick through the data and come up with the best possible set-up for Saturday and Sunday,” the German added.
