Formula 1 pundit and former driver Karun Chandhok believes that the Daniel Ricciardo to Renault move came too soon for both the team and the driver.

Chandhok thinks that Ricciardo’s move to Renault came a year early as he believes that the team will be able to handle the Aussie’s expectations.

“Having Ricciardo as an ‘A-lister’ join them has kind of caught them slightly off-guard,” said Chandhok at ASI.

“It’s probably a year early for them until they are really ready for a top line driver. I think a good year for them will be fourth [in the standings] and maybe the odd podium and sort of establishing themselves as fourth.

“Last year they weren’t clearly ahead of Force India or Haas in terms of pace and this year they need to do that.

“They are the manufacturer team on the path to becoming a top team, so they’ve got to establish themselves as clearly the fourth best.”

Chandhok is also concerned about the fact that due to the tightness of the midfield competition, Ricciardo’s team might not finish fourth.

“You’ve got Force India with new investment and new money coming in, Haas have had a great year and are going to want to build on that with their collaboration with Ferrari.

“Both McLaren and Williams are going to look to have better years, and Toro Rosso, they are collaborating much more closely with Red Bull than they have in the past and then there’s Sauber with Kimi Raikkonen.”

It is set to be an exciting midfield battle in 2019 and it will be interesting to see which team manages to finish in the fourth position.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo’s former team, Red Bull have been busy mocking the Aussie for leaving the Austrian outfit. Hopefully, Ricciardo can come into his own at the French team.