Daniel Ricciardo admits that he is expecting to take another grid penalty later in the season due to exceeding the maximum amount of allocated parts in his Renault power unit. Renault has produced a somewhat unreliable engine this year, which has caused both Red Bull drivers headaches.
At the British Grand Prix, the Australian was forced to the back of the grid after qualifying but was able to make his way through the field with an overtaking showcase. The four-time Grand Prix winner met with Renault recently and revealed that they are working hard to overcome the problems.
"We know that at some point we will have to take that extra penalty again because we are already up to the last one," he said. "I was with Renault recently and every reliability failure we’ve had there has been an explanation for it. So there has been a cure for all of those, but there is still some vulnerabilities which we are well aware of.
"They think they have got on top of most of them, but it doesn’t mean we are not going to have another one. They are different things, and then they will figure it out, solve it, and then something else, so they feel that they have covered most bases now, but things are pretty interesting so you never know.
"In performance quali mode we don’t have what Mercedes have, their quali mode is ridiculous," he added. "But in racing we are running in our race trim power like we saw in Austria until Lewis was able to turn it up, we are not too shabby, we can kind of race with them if they are not using a quali mode. So performance on a Sunday is getting there."
Fergal Walsh
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