Daniel Ricciardo admits the batch of upgrades Renault introduced at the French GP have yet to deliver as expected.
The French manufacturer was targeting a significant step forward with the new parts, which were the result of a push to clear a development backlog.
However, in both Paul Ricard and Austria, Renault remained stuck in the midfield, with McLaren pulling ahead in the Constructors’ standings.
“I will say we did expect a bit more from these upgrades in terms of lap time translation and that has not really shown,” he conceded to Formula1.com.
“It is tough because it was not great and it was quite frustrating in the car, but we have to be constructive and the most important thing is to try to really understand why, as opposed to just throw it away and say that ‘this track does not suit us’.
“I feel like there is maybe something more fundamental with the car that we have not got on top of yet because we have changed a lot and always ended up with the same outcome.”
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The race in Spielberg was particularly disappointing as Renault slipped behind Alfa Romeo and was fighting with Racing Point just outside the top 10.
Certainly, that was a step back from Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg fighting with Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull in Canada.
“For sure it has broken a little bit of momentum,” the Australian admitted. “For me it was nice to get some Q3s, it was a shame to stop that. For the team, there are certainly some things we need to understand.
“We had made progress for sure, and in Canada and Monaco, we showed that. But obviously, we are still able to be back to where we don’t want to be.
“We need to understand why. We are still not perfect, so still some work to do. I don’t believe this will now be our trend, I hope it isn’t.”
