Autosport Plus

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.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

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.