Daniel Ricciardo is joining Renault a year before they can realistically compete at the front, says former Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok.
With his contract expiring at Red Bull, the Australian took the gamble and put his faith in the long-term potential of the French manufacturer, who have been steadily working up the grid since returning as a works team in 2016.
However, the Indian, who will return to Sky Sports as a pundit this year, believes another year fending off the midfield is in store.
“Having Ricciardo as an ‘A-lister’ join them has kind of caught them slightly off-guard,” said Chandhok at the Autosport International show this past weekend. “It’s probably a year [too] early for them until they are really ready for a top line driver.
“A good year for them [in 2019] will be fourth and maybe the odd podium and sort of establishing themselves as fourth. Last year they weren’t clearly ahead of Force India or Haas in terms of pace and this year they need to do that.
“They are the manufacturer team on the path to becoming a top team, so they’ve got to establish themselves as clearly the fourth best.”
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Doing that won’t be easy, Chandhok warns, however, with plenty of other midfield teams with reason to be optimistic going into the new season.
“You’ve got Force India [Racing Point] with new investment and new money coming in, Haas have had a great year and are going to want to build on that with their collaboration with Ferrari,” he noted.
“Both McLaren and Williams are going to look to have better years, Toro Rosso, they are collaborating much more closely with Red Bull than they have in the past and then there’s Sauber with Kimi Raikkonen.
“The midfield was super tight last year, so it will remain close but I don’t think any of the midfield teams are going to bridge the gap to the top three in 2019.”