'Here's your company car': Renault mock Ricciardo's first day
Renault have brilliantly introduced Daniel Ricciardo to the French team’s English base with the keys to his new ‘company car’.
Days after unveiling the new Renault RS19 for the 2019 Formula One season, Ricciardo has been welcomed with a comedic take on his first day with the team.
The Aussie missed the entrance while practising his French, looked overdressed in his blue suit and then sat on his own for lunch with no hint of making any friends.
But it was all sorted out when he met with a colleague at reception.
“It took me ages to pick a suit. I wanted to come in, make an impression. What do you think?” the former Red Bull driver asked.
The Renault employee had a simple answer: “It’s a bit much.”
But all Ricciardo really showed up for was his new company car.
Watch the unveiling in the video at the top of the page
Brighter days ahead for Renault?
Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul believes the French marque have found a “significant” improvement in their new engine over the F1 break.
The proclamation left Ricciardo nervously excited.
“Obviously being pretty deep in the Renault family, I’ve seen numbers and I know they are not just saying it to please everyone. It has been a good winter,” the Australian told Motorsport.com.
“But, race cars are race cars. You might put it on track, and it has done a lot of stuff on the dyno, and then it’s ‘why is it doing that?’ ‘Okay, we didn’t expect that.’
“So you never really want to put all your eggs in that basket saying this is going to be sick.
“But look, so far what they have done over the winter, looking at the numbers they have done in previous years, it has been a good one.
“By no means are they saying it is going to be better than a Mercedes, but from what they have done it is really positive. It is nice to hear that for sure.”
The 2019 Formula One season begins in Australia, with Albert Park hosting the first race on March 17.
