How 'relaxed' Ricciardo aims to kick on with Renault

Q: With the experience of last year, what would you say you've learned and how has that informed your preparations this season?

Daniel Ricciardo: Just being in a familiar environment, it's made [me]... I'm going to say the word relaxed, but not in a lazy way. I haven't been kind of running around like a headless chook, trying to have meetings with my engineer and trying to understand each other's lingo and remember each other's names and all these sort of things. I've established relationships.

Q: Was there a process of getting your feet under the table before introducing ideas for change?

DR: After Melbourne last year, I remember sending Cyril [Abiteboul, team boss] quite a long email with a whole list of things that we can do better, but it's not going to turn around in one day or one week - we have to put things in place. This year, I want to come to the table with a plan of action - just be a bit more intelligent about the way I bring things to them, and sometimes taking action and initiative myself.

Q: How do you set your targets for this year? Alain Prost says the team suffered a bit from that previously: 'this year we will score podiums, and then this year we want to be winning' so do you go in with a clear target to be fourth again and at the front of the midfield, or is it a bit more fluid?

DR: It's important to set targets. A team target is to get back to fourth. But you need to be fluid, and you need to adapt - positive or negative. I feel even last year, I came into the team and there was still quite a few moving parts - personnel coming in and out, some parts of the factory were still under construction. I feel this year my place is more concrete. OK, Esteban [Ocon]'s new but he did have an existing relationship with the team, Pat [Fry]'s come in, [but] I do feel over the course of the next month, six weeks, there will be a feeling of real stability. I feel there's going to be more actual progress instead of 'this is changing so in six months or so it will be better'.

Q: A lot of changes at Enstone but it seems the car you'll be driving will be very similar to last year's...

DR: I think that's where you have to probably just recognise the sport and the level of competition you're dealing with. Things take time. And I think having, let's say, an evolution of a 2019 car is the smartest way for us to make progress. Everyone wants the miracle, but we're not in a position to do that, realistically. It's been a long time since the team won, so that formula needs to be built up with a proper foundation. I trust this process; I think it's the smartest way to do it. Will it give us a win in Melbourne? No, probably not. But I don't think the crazy approach would give us a win in Melbourne either.

Q: How do you see the relationship with Esteban panning out? He had a fairly fraught time at his previous team [Force India] and there was a famous radio quote from you about 'I don't
like the look of his face'...

DR:[Laughs] I think that was in Budapest! I was quite angry after FP2 I think...

Q: And also he's French in a French team as well,
 so there's a bit of a nationality thing there. 
Are there any ground rules that you're going to try to lay down?

DR: I don't want to lay any rules down from day one, because I think already that will create a tension - like you're anticipating something. When I joined Red Bull, Mark [Webber] and [Sebastian] Vettel came to blows a few times, so a lot of people were like 'are you going to have blows with Vettel?' But the way I saw it, Mark and Vettel had their own relationship, that's not my relationship, so I need to establish something. I need to create something for myself with Ocon. I'm prepared for competition, but I'm not prepared for fun and games. If down the track fun and games appear, then I'll deal with it. I'm certainly coming in with open mind and positivity. I think it's our best intention to try to get this team in a good place before they start losing energy focused on managing us.

Q: You're one of the last top-line drivers out of contract at the end of this season, and it's easy to imagine a scenario where Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are all interested in you. Do you see this as an important year for your career? The next commitment you make is quite significant to test your ambition to become world champion.

DR: It is. I don't have anything written down with Renault beyond this year, but I'm 100% committed to making this work. I haven't thought about scenarios yet of being somewhere else. I do feel like last year was a bit of an unknown. But I do feel this year there is much more in place to get this thing on the right track, and to tick some of the boxes that I thought we would tick when I signed the contract. I do believe there is a 'shoey' in here somewhere in a yellow car. I do believe that, so I'm certainly all-in to make those things come to fruition.