Racing Point the team to beat in battle for third - Ricciardo

Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo has labelled Racing Point as the team to beat in the race for third.

Ricciardo finished third in Imola, securing his second podium of the season, to promote Renault to third in the constructors' championship, leaping ahead of Racing Point and McLaren by a single point.

Despite conceding his belief Racing Point has the faster car with just four races remaining, the Australian is confident Renault has turned a corner and has closed the gap to its rivals.

"I think, particularly the start of the year, it looked like Racing Point [were fastest]," he said.

"There was no denying that. I still feel they probably produce the most downforce out of us three. When it comes to pure grip performance, they probably got a little edge.

"That’s not always everything. It’s certainly looked that way earlier-on. I think our development’s helped us and I’m sure we’re very close now but probably raw performance, I’d probably still say they have an edge."

Renault sporting director Alan Permane echoed his driver's thoughts, although pointed to the Eifel Grand Prix as an indicator that the pace between the three teams is largely dependent on circuit layout.

"Unfortunately, their car is the quickest of the three," he added. "If you look at Checo [Sergio Perez] in Portimao, when he came back through the field, his pace was just incredible. Had he not gone off he would’ve been a long way up.

"But having said that, in Nürburgring, we beat them and I don’t want to say easily but I think if we hadn’t slightly messed up our strategy when we were trying to take advantage of the virtual safety car and stopped Daniel really early.

"If we would’ve gone on long, he would’ve breezed it. I think it’s a little bit circuit-dependant. I think a comment Daniel made a couple of weeks ago, it comes down to reliability. That is also key to it and we got to get both cars in the points every week."

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