Daniel Ricciardo believes he and Renault might benefit from simplifying their approach after a tough start to their new partnership.
The Australian is yet to finish a race for his new team, once because of his overzealous start in Melbourne and once because of an engine failure, something he’s become used to over the years.
Overall, however, his pace hasn’t been what was expected as Ricciardo has qualified P11 for both races and was over a second slower than his teammate Nico Hulkenberg throughout practice in Bahrain.
“We got the chance to analyse on the Monday after [Bahrain]… and we established that we’re maybe currently trying to do too much, where I’m trying to settle in and also my engineers are trying to [learn how to] work with me,” he said on Thursday in China.
“Probably all of us, we’re trying to be too clever as well,” the ‘Honey Badger’ suggested. “I don’t want to say that, because you’re always trying to find the limits.
“But for now, maybe we need to keep a more basic approach and just do what we can, do it well and then probably not look for that extra one per cent at the moment.
“[Doing that] will probably just help me out as well with having a more consistent car throughout the weekend.”
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It’s also clear that Ricciardo is struggling to optimise his strengths with the Renault car, in particular on the brakes, where he was often so effective with Red Bull.
“I don’t want to say I’m nowhere [under braking], but of course, I was a bit of a stand-out in a Red Bull car and that’s what I want to get back to,” he said.
“At least for now, it’s probably a little bit more on a knife-edge in that area. I’ve noticed I’ll lock a wheel here and there, where maybe I wouldn’t have last year, so I’m trying to figure out where the limit is.
“I still want to be that aggressive driver on the brakes and all that, but that will come with a bit of confidence. I don’t have that level, or haven’t as yet had that level of confidence on braking, as I had last year.
“But I’m still going to try and go for it. I still want my competitors to fear me!”
