Daniel Ricciardo still gets satisfaction from good results in Formula 1’s midfield even if he’s not “running around the streets naked”.
The Australian got used to scoring wins and podiums during his five years at Red Bull, standing on the rostrum a total of 29 times including on top step seven times.
2019, however, saw his perspective change after making the bold move to Renault but that adjustment hasn’t dampened Ricciardo’s enthusiasm when he optimises a result.
“I’ll always leave a race track happy and fulfilled if I know I’ve got everything out of it,” he said via Motorsport Week.
“I won’t lie, that is heightened by taking home a trophy or a bottle of champagne, but there have also been podiums I got where I wasn’t actually completely satisfied with how I drove.
“The high will never be as high, finishing fourth in Monza was a huge result but I still wasn’t standing on the podium, so I am not going out running around the streets naked…
“But as far as my personal fulfilment, that is really everything I need if I leave the track knowing I got everything out of it.”
Ricciardo also explained how the battle in the midfield is much different to that he got used to with Red Bull.
“It is tight [in the midfield] and at times frustrating because sometimes a tenth puts you three or four spots back,” he noted.
“But when you get that tenth it puts you three or four spots forward. It feels like a real battle and most of the time a person in the best of the rest feels like they actually won something on the weekend. There is that internal battle.
“It has been good; it has been fun.”
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2019 has still fallen short of expectations, however, with Renault not making the progress they expected and instead have slipped back to fifth in the Constructors’ standings facing slim threats by Racing Point and Toro Rosso.
“There is pressure for all of us to do it. I wouldn’t say that I feel the pressure, as far as there is not a fear within the team of losing these positions,” Ricciardo said via Crash.net.
“My personal championship position, I am not too bothered about, but as a team point of view, for sure. I’m confident we will do it.
“Circumstances you never know, but I am confident if we just execute the next few races we should be sweet. I will put pressure on myself to execute.
“It is good to keep us still focused on this year. The team has already started with next year, but that is independent of this year, and it is giving us something to keep us on our toes, which is good.”