Renault are amidst an intense fight with Racing Point and McLaren for P3 on the constructors. However, to the French team’s misery, neither of their drivers managed to get into Q3 in qualifying at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Their star driver, Daniel Ricciardo, unsurprisingly looked disappointed with Renault’s performance under the lights.

During the post-qualifying interview, Ricciardo opened up that he was “grumpy” on the inside, despite portraying a smiling face on the outside after what he termed as an upsetting qualifying session.

“It was a strange one, an unpleasant surprise. Right now, I don’t like being 12th for sure,” he said. “I don’t like to be the grumpy pants. Obviously, it’s my last one [for Renault]. I’m grumpy inside.

“I have a permanent smile but I don’t feel like that just now. Maybe it’s a little fake! I normally take qualifying to heart, so pretty upset.”

This will be his final qualifying session with Renault. Hence, the high emotions from his side are reasonable. However, it is not all over for the Australian. He still has the race ahead of him.

Daniel Ricciardo hoping to use tire advantage to his advantage

The Australian pointed out the fact that Renault will enjoy free tire choice for the race. Hence, it is highly likely that the team will go after a different strategy from others, hoping to outshine the rival teams.

“The good thing is we have tyre choice. We’ll start probably on a different strategy to our competitors and figure it out,” Ricciardo said.

Renault were incredibly fast through the practice sessions. However, to everyone’s surprise, they never really managed to shine in qualifying.

“We didn’t really have the pace, but we had it a few hours earlier in practice. I don’t know where we lost the speed,” the Australian said.

Hence, it was clearly evident that Renault holds a stronger pace underneath the car, and all it takes is a minor tweak in the setup to unleash their true pace.

Overall, the battle for P3 ends today, and the question of who is going to finish on top still persists. Can Renault deliver a miracle and boost their team up to P3 on the constructors? Well, only time will tell.