Brendan Lines

February 20, 2020

Daniel Ricciardo is smiling after his first pre-season test in his new Renault R.S.20 yesterday at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona in the build up to the Australian Grand Prix in March.

A smiling reaction for Ricciardo – Image: Renaultsport

After a difficult first season with the French team, the Australian is back and feeling good about his first impressions of the new car.

“It feels awesome to be back driving a Formula 1 car,” Ricciardo said.

“I had a big smile on my face leaving the garage as it’s been a while since I’ve had my own race car. It’s really cool to think about the thousands of hours which have been put into creating this car and then feeling it come alive on track. In terms of our programme, we’ve made a solid start and we have a good base to work from. We know we have to keep working this week and make some improvements ready for the first race. We have to be precise in our work and make everything count. I’m looking forward to continuing the progress through the week.”

Limited to just a 56-lap stint on Day 1 of testing, Ricciardo finished 7^th in the standings with a best time of 1:17.873s.

Finishing ahead of his new team mate Esteban Ocon in 8^th, the first impressions of the new R.S.20 was enough to put an all too familiar smile on the Aussie’s face.

The day also saw Ricciardo sporting his ‘Honey Badger’ helmet design for 2020, but as modern F1 drivers go, helmet design is a moving space throughout the season.

Through the speed traps the new Renault was fourth fastest, just pipping the Mercedes, but the comparison is heavily depended on aero simulations and fuel load, rather than outright pace.

As rendered images were teased of the R.S.20 at its launch in Paris last week, the R.S.20 took to the track in its stealthy black testing livery.

Daniel Ricciardo at the wheel of his new R.S.20 – Image: Renaultsport

But the team insists that its 2020 challenger will be back in its familiar yellow and black colours very soon.

Ricciardo will resume his seat in the R.S.20 for the morning test session on Thursday.