Daniel Ricciardo believes he can bring fresh motivation to Renault in their quest to join Formula 1’s top three teams in 2019 and beyond.
The Australian made his first public appearance in his new black and yellow colours at the unveiling of the new R.S.19 on Tuesday following his decision to leave Red Bull at the end of last year.
Expectations remain varied as to how successful his bid to achieve success will be at the French manufacturer but, speaking at the Enstone factory, he made it clear regardless, it won’t be through a lack of effort.
“I’m here to do a job on track and drive as fast as possible,” he said.
“[But] I would like to bring the team energy. I want to put a spring in everyone’s step because that’s also part of my job and also my character.
“I aim to be able to get the team to work that extra bit harder, put in more effort and rally everyone together. I want to be a catalyst for positive energy.”
Ricciardo often cited a need for a new challenge as one of his personal reasons for leaving Red Bull, a company he had been associated with for 10 years.
And having been outperformed by Max Verstappen, partly as a result of suffering a total of eight retirements, he admits he joins Renault a different man.
“Last year we had some highs and some happy moments, there were also some points of frustration,” the 29-year-old reflected.
“I was craving a change and everything I learnt in 2018 will make me a better version of myself in 2019.
“The difference will be a more mature person. I have more clarity of where I’m going and I aim for that to be shown with good results on track.
“I feel a lot of positive pressure and expectation to do good things, but that’s something I’m looking forward to taking on.”
