Daniel Ricciardo opens up on the efforts made by Renault on the kerbs issue the team faced as he adds that dirty air is probably on worse side than F1 2019.
In past years, one underlying issue which Renault have faced is performance at bumpier F1 circuits, and issues on harsh kerbs. One of the more prominent examples of this struggle was at Singapore qualifying in 2019, when a bumpy ride over a rugged kerb resulted in an MGU-K spike – which he was ultimately disqualified for.
However, on Renault’s new R.S.20, Ricciardo said that changes have been made in order to rectify this issue. According to him, this entails a revamped suspension system, as well as other modifications. He did mention that he has not yet experienced the difference this makes, seeing as Barcelona is relatively smooth.
“We have [had changes],” started Ricciardo to media including FormulaRapida.net. “I know, like within the car build itself, the boys have done some – sorry, it’s 2020, I gotta be careful. I say the boys but there are girls in our team, so ‘the individuals’ have done some work on the car.
“With the car build this year there are various things that have been done to address it, without going into details, [there’s] more suspension travel, stuff like this to help with some bumpier parts of circuits. [At] this track, you don’t really get an indication.
“It’s very smooth, kerbs are flat, but we’re going to Melbourne, on something bumpy and harsh, then we’re really going to know if it’s better, so definitely an ongoing question, but it’s hard to get a representation on this track.
“But I know the team have added to some parts of the car.” Meanwhile, when discussing the 2020 F1 grid in its entirety, Ricciardo added that dirty air is somewhat worse than it was last year. This is something other drivers have pointed out as well as teams develop their cars further and thus increase disturbance of the airflow.
“It is pretty dirty,” said Ricciardo. “I think naturally now we’re going quicker, I feel we’re going quicker than last year again, but turn three is easy [at] full [throttle], turn nine is more or less full, every lap. Not with fuel, but low fuel.
“I think the dirty air we’re creating is more because of the speed we’re going, and then trying to travel close behind the other car. Long story short, you’ll feel it and unfortunately, a track like this one with a lot of high-speed corners in the first two sectors, it is very hard to stay close to the car, so yeah. I’d like to say it’s better, but it’s not, and probably worse than last year.”
Here’s Daniel Ricciardo talking about Renault R.S.20 and Mercedes W11
Here’s Esteban Ocon on relation with Daniel Ricciardo
Here’s Esteban Ocon on how much he pushed in Barcelona tests
The story was edited by Darshan Chokhani