“Remembered What Driving Felt Like” – Daniel Ricciardo Finally Drives an F1 Car Again With Renault Test

Renault are the latest team to hit the track to shake off the rust ahead of the first Grand Prix in Austria. Renault are the second team after Mercedes to run their individual pre-season tests. Ferrari and Racing point will also follow suit soon. While not everyone (I’m looking at you Dr. Helmut Marko) is happy that Renault have begun testing, the Australian, Daniel Ricciardo most certainly is.

Daniel Ricciardo is pumped to be back behind the steering wheel of the Renault

The Australian posted a video on Instagram. In the post, Ricciardo is seen taking off from the starting line, with a caption the reads, “Remembered what driving fast felt like today. It was fun. Cool. Alright. Cya later.“An hour previously, Renault put the same video clip of Ricciardo with a caption saying, “He’s back. The Honey Badger is back.”

Like other teams during this period, Renault will be testing their 2018 spec RS18. This is because regulations don’t permit teams to test their latest car anywhere apart from the winter tests in Barcelona and post-season tests at Abu Dhabi. The Enstone based outfit has loaned the Red Bull Ring in Austria for a period of two days (June 16th and 17th) to conduct their tests, quite to the chagrin of Red Bull and their advisor Dr. Helmut Marko.

Yesterday, Daniel Ricciardo was the first of the two Renault drivers to begin testing. He tested the RS18 for a total of 115 laps and covered a total of 500 kilometers in the process. These pre-season tests, not only allow the drivers to warm up and get some laps in before the season begins but also helps the teams to get used to all the safety measures introduced in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both, Renault and Ricciardo will be hoping for a much better season than the previous one. Especially Ricciardo, since he’ll leave the French team at the end of the season for McLaren, he’ll want to leave with some good memories with him and perhaps gift Renault a podium finish if possible.