Daniel Ricciardo wants to make sure he delivers should the chance for a Renault podium emerge before he leaves.
The Australian has finished fourth twice since moving from Red Bull at the beginning of last year, his most recent being at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Last weekend’s second race at Silverstone also saw Ricciardo start from fifth, before problems with the tyres and a spin would see him drop to 14th.
But given the potential of his car, the ‘Honey Badger’ wants to be ready to take advantage should the chance come to add what would be the 30th top-three finish of his career in 2020.
“It’s more if the opportunity presents itself and we miss out on that,” Ricciardo said on Thursday.
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“For sure I’d be disappointed, but if I race every race my hardest and I’m finishing sixth every race because of that, then I’m probably not going to be devastated.
“I do want to stand back up there and be delivered a trophy on a robot or whatever they’re doing now. I miss that and I’ll probably get a fine for drinking out of my shoe, but it will be worth it.”
If Ricciardo did also manage to score Renault’s first podium as a constructor since 2011, it would also leave a permanent mark on team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
“It’s a bit foggy,” the Aussie said on his bet with the Frenchman, “I believe he chooses placement and size, but I choose the design, but we’ll clear that up. But it’s a tattoo and he does not have any, so it’s a big deal for Cyril.”
More broadly though, Ricciardo is just pleased with the performance of the French manufacturer in the early races, even if he feels they deserved better results.
“I feel it should be even more [than 20],” he said of his current points total.
“I think the car certainly has made a big step forward and it goes back to the first practice in Austria, after such a long break, jumped in the car and it just felt easy, and it was nice to drive and it was just there, really, from the get-go. It’s been strong and I think 20 points is great but there’s more in that so it’s considerably better.
“I think we’ve proved we’re a Q3 car, maybe a top-five could be a stretch. I think the only way we kind of miss out on Q3 is if we make a mistake on our lap perhaps.
“I think typically if everything’s running smooth, then we should be there. We’ll see what happens here but I’m excited to get some more good qualifyings and then convert them to a good race.”
