Australian F1 star Daniel Ricciardo has a nightmare start to the season after he spins out when part of his new Renault car snaps off at 300km/h
- Daniel Ricciardo’s first two days in a Renault F1 car were a mixed bag of results
- On day two of testing Ricciardo’s DRS failed and sent the car spinning off track
- Ricciardo said despite the DRS failure he was optimistic about the 2019 season
Australian Formula One star Daniel Ricciardo has had a nightmare start to the season after his Drag Reduction System failed during morning testing on Tuesday in Barcelona.
Ricciardo, 29, who left the Red Bull team to join Renault in 2019, was completing a test lap when the rear wing of his new car suddenly blew off near the first corner as he was travelling roughly 300km/h.
Ricciardo was posting scattered times, recording the slowest time on the first test day, but also posting the second fastest lap on the second day.
Australian Formula One star Daniel Ricciardo has had a nightmare start to the season with a new team after his Drag Reduction System failed during morning testing (pictured)
Ricciardo, 29, (pictured) left the Red Bull team to join Renault in 2019 and said he was optimistic with the performance of the new car before the rear wing suddenly blew off
While trying to better his times on day two of testing, cameras caught the moment Ricciardo’s Renault lost its DRS as he came over a rise in the track.
‘It was a shorter day than I’d hoped with the DRS failure cutting our running early,’ Ricciardo said in a statement from Renault.
‘Prior to that I felt encouraged and I was happy with our morning’s work, the tyres and the car behaved and the feeling was good and progressing well.’
He said he is getting used to his new car.
‘I felt in our early running the feeling was more representative and to my comfort,’ he said.
‘That is what testing is for.’
When the car lost its DRS, Ricciardo said he lost control of the car as soon as he touched the brake and started to spin off the track.
But he somehow still managed to keep the car from hitting the wall, The Herald Sun reported.
It was the second test day at the Barcelona track and Ricciardo was posting scattered times, recording the slowest time on the first test day, but also posting the second fastest lap on the second day
‘We avoided the wall and just coming back to fix the rear wing and all that it obviously takes some time and parts as well and at testing you don’t have a whole lot of parts so my morning was done after that,’ he said.
A driver within one second of an opponent is allowed to activate the DRS, altering the angle of the rear flap, which reduces drag and provides a temporary speed advantage.
Ricciardo is signed with the Renault team for the next two years and was familiar with the system after racing in the Renault junior series between 2007 and 2011.
‘It was probably one of the most difficult decisions to take in my career so far. But I thought that it was time for me to take on a fresh and new challenge,’ Ricciardo said.
‘I hope to be able to help them in this journey and contribute on and off track.’
The 2019 Formula 1 season will begin in Melbourne on March 17.
Ricciardo hopes to kick of his fresh season with a strong showing in his home country.
The 2019 Formula 1 season will begin in Melbourne on March 17. Ricciardo (pictured) hopes to kick of his fresh season with a strong showing in his home country