Why Ricciardo needs to put anomalous 2019 behind him
Daniel Ricciardo's first season at Renault in 2019 offered plenty of promise, but ultimately no podiums. Now established as the Formula 1 team's lead driver, he needs that statistic to change in 2020 to keep his long-term options open
"Anomaly - is that the word?" asks Daniel Ricciardo, smiling as ever.
The Renault driver is cheerily chatting his way through a media session midway through the first pre-season test of the 2020 Formula 1 season at Barcelona.
He will end the test with the 10th-quickest time, with team-mate Esteban Ocon putting Renault third in the teams' ranking. Renault will finish the test with 380 laps on the board, with the early indications suggesting another year of action-packed midfield scrapping lies ahead.
Share Or Save This Story
Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.
A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.
More from Alex Kalinauckas
10 things we learned from the 2024 F1 Chinese Grand Prix
Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024
Red Bull says it can't match "very lucrative" Audi F1 offer to Sainz
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Sainz: All my best 2025 F1 seat options are "still open"
Norris: McLaren can win races in F1 2024 if it gets everything right
Alonso: Stroll more sensitive to Aston F1 car handling issues I drive around
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
Latest news
Wolff: Mercedes can't just keep living off F1 ‘bright spots’
From tweaked headrests to new floors: China’s F1 updates in full
Pourchaire eager for more IndyCar after “amazing” debut in Long Beach
Was Long Beach really Scott Dixon’s greatest IndyCar drive yet?
Autosport Plus
Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024
Why Verstappen's China F1 win was a sideshow to the real battle
How the pursuit of marginal F1 gains caused Sauber's pitstop stumbles
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.