Daniel Ricciardo praised his Renault as now a “complete car” after securing P6 on the grid for the Eifel Grand Prix.
The Australian has been arguably the strongest performer in the past four races with only the dominant Mercedes drivers scoring more points since Spa.
In qualifying at the Nurburgring, Renault and Ricciardo continued that improved form, as both cars will line up ahead of Racing Point and McLaren, their main rivals for third in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Solid one from the team again, sixth and seventh,” Daniel said post-session. “Sixth is alright. We can have a good one from there.
“I did another quick lap in Q2 and couldn’t quite get it together in Q3, but I don’t think it made a difference to the position.
“Charles and Alex were a couple of tenths ahead and I didn’t quite have that.
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“We know it will be close in the race, but I’m excited and I think we can be up there and aim for a top-six finish,” Ricciardo continued.
“We’ll see how the soft [compound tyre] holds up, as it looks like it could be susceptible to graining. If it’s dry or wet, it should be an interesting race.”
What’s most noticeable about Renault now though, is how the team has evolved from one that only specialises on low downforce circuits like Spa and Monza, to one that can fight for the same places just about anywhere.
“Yes, that is where last year it was as a team quite frustrating for us,” Ricciardo said. “Because we would have the odd good result but we really lacked the consistency that we have shown this year.
“That is been really positive, not only on Saturday but also Sunday and now on all types of circuits. It is good, I would say the car is now a complete car.
“It is not still as quick as a Mercedes but for that midfield fight we really feel like we have the car that can fight now until the end.”
Also asked about Renault’s high downforce gains, teammate Esteban Ocon believes their main weakness is a thing of the past.
“It is definitely giving us great confidence because as you know we have been struggling in Barcelona and Budapest on those high downforce settings, and we are back on those for here, and the car has been feeling great and feeling strong, so that is all behind us now,” the Frenchman claimed.
“I’m not saying if we go back to Barcelona that we would qualify sixth and seventh, but it is giving us great hope and great confidence to continue the season like that.”