Daniel Ricciardo wants to end his two-year stint at Renault “the right way” as they face tough battles in both championships over the final three races.
The Australian will make the move to midfield rivals McLaren for 2021, with Fernando Alonso returning after two years away to fill his seat alongside Esteban Ocon.
But before then, Ricciardo is fully focused on securing ‘best of the rest’ positions in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings.
“It’s cool to still have something like that to fight for,” he said ahead of the first of two races in Bahrain this weekend.
“I’m obviously fighting for top four in the Drivers’, and we as a team are fighting for top three in the Constructors’.
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“Obviously the world title fight is done, but there is still a pretty good one and I think it’s going to keep the fans entertained.
“Ferrari having a good weekend in Turkey has also brought them back into the mix, so literally there are four teams that can finish third and I think that’s pretty cool.”
For Ricciardo, 2020 has arguably exceeded expectations after a steady start, with the former Red Bull driver enjoying the best run of results of anyone not driving a Mercedes since Spa, scoring 76 points and two podiums at Nurburgring and Imola.
The key to that has been developing and optimising the Renault car into one that works on almost all circuits, rather than just those which require lower downforce.
“It’s come on really well and I think already in Austria even though we didn’t have a massive result in any of those two races I felt like the car was a car that really could perform well on particular tracks this year,” he explained.
“But I guess where it surprised us really as a team was the scope of tracks that we’ve been able to get results on, and qualifying up the front, fighting up the front, it’s something I missed for sure and doing it regularly it feels good.
“Looking back on the season now I think it’s gone really well, but these three to go will be so important and it could change from Constructors’ third to Constructors’ sixth.
“So that depending on where we finish will really give the true answer to how the season has gone but we’re definitely in it.”
Whatever happens though, in just over two weeks, Ricciardo will be competing for Renault for the final time and ending the year on a high is seen as an imperative.
“I’m excited to finish these last three in a good way, and I was just excited to come to a warm climate after Turkey,” he explained.
“I was pretty miserable in Turkey, it was so cold, but I’m really excited to end this one out. It’s always a bit emotional moving on and leaving your team, it’s inevitable that you build relationships.
“Truth is I get on with pretty much everyone who is wearing yellow, but I want to tick this box the right way, finish strong, give everyone a cuddle and get on to ’21.”
