Daniel Ricciardo can challenge Mercedes and Red Bull with Renault in 2019

[Glasgow]

There is no reason Daniel Ricciardo can’t be challenging for poles and podiums with Renault next season, according to his new boss, who believes their engine will be on par with Mercedes and Ferrari next year.

Ricciardo’s move to Renault, who finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship last year, from Red Bull was expected to signal the last time we would see a shoey on the podium for at least the next two years, given their lack of competitiveness in comparison to the top teams.

Even Ricciardo himself has hinted that he is expecting 2020 to be more of a podium challenging year than 2019, but he will be in for a pleasant surprise when he walks through the door of their Enstone base, according to managing director Cyril Abiteboul.

"We're missing about 15 to 20 kilowatts of engine power [20-27bhp] in the race, which under certain conditions could be made up for by the Red Bull chassis,” Abiteboul told Auto Motor und Sport.

"In qualifying we estimate our deficit at 40 kilowatts [53bhp], and that's significant.

"With a customer engine from Mercedes or Ferrari we would have qualified in seventh place in Abu Dhabi. This shows that we have a better chassis than our (midfield) competitors, but also shows we are not as good as the three top teams.

"That's why the main focus at first is on engine development. Next year, I don't want to have to say anymore that we lacked too much power in qualifying. There's no reason why we shouldn't close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari with the engine over the winter. With the chassis it will take a little longer."

The Aussie has been driving Renault power for the last five years at Red Bull before the split at the end of the 2018 season, as the Milton Keynes outfit switches to Honda engines.

Red Bull have been very vocal about how much better they will be with their engines, despite Renault outperforming the only team using them last season, Toro Rosso.

Abiteboul was keen to point this out as the fallout from Renault’s very public divorce from Red Bull continues.

"It's hard for me today to set targets for next year," Abiteboul said. "In sport, that always depends a bit on the performance of the others. But if the curve points upwards like ours, you want this trend to continue.

"Maybe we won't be able to do that in terms of the world championship position, but we want to reduce the gap to the top. Let's wait and see what happens with Red Bull and Honda. Red Bull never gets tired of telling how good Honda is compared to us.

"May I say that Toro Rosso (Red Bull’s sister team who already use Honda engines) is still behind us?"