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Abiteboul tells Ricciardo that he needs to adapt to life at a midfield team

Abiteboul tells Ricciardo that he needs to adapt to life at a midfield team

18-03-2019 16:04
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Daniel Ricciardo has had a disastrous start to his time at Renault. Going into the first corner of the first lap the Aussie was unfortunate to lose his front wing which pretty much ended his Grand Prix. Having moved from Red Bull, who did relatively well during the race weekend with Max Verstappen, Ricciardo may be questioning why he left. Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul believes that Ricciardo will have to adapt to life in a midfield team.   

Ricciardo believes that he did not have the best preparation to the first race of the 2019 season.  

"It's a long week," he said to Auto Week. "I haven't had much chance to rest. I've been trying to please everyone except myself. Next year it will be different."

"I think my preparation was not what it should be," he said. "I just have a feeling that I didn't prepare for the race at all because I was trying to please everyone else."

There was a lot of talk about Ricciardo during the build-up to the race and Abiteboul believes that he needs to develop a thicker skin if he is to succeed at the team. 

"It's not that he underestimated it, but as a midfield team we do not operate in the same way as a top team," team boss Abiteboul told France's Auto Hebdo.

"Maybe Daniel will have to get a harder skin and some more patience at the start," he added.

"But I am absolutely not panicked. He is an intelligent guy. In Bahrain, we will have a more traditional circuit with more space at the sides."

Renault will hope that they improve rapidly in time to achieve more in Bahrain.