Ricciardo completes track return with 115 laps

Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo blew off some of the cobwebs by completing 115 laps at the Red Bull Ring in Austria as part of a two-day Renault test.
The Aussie, about to embark upon his last season with the Enstone team before he heads off to McLaren to replace the Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz, took to the Spielberg track on Tuesday and racked up over 500km in the Renault R.S.18.
Wednesday will see Ricciardo hand the car over to his new team-mate Esteban Ocon, who will be looking to rack up similar numbers as he prepares to make his long-awaited return to Formula 1.
While there is excitement at seeing preparations ramp up for the new season, not everyone is happy to see Renault out on track.
Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, Dr Helmut Marko, was not particularly pleased to see their old engine suppliers being able to test on Red Bull’s home patch which will also play host to the first two races of the heavily revised season.
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With team’s restricted in running in their current cars, some, like Mercedes, are using older models as part of their mini pre-season preparations.
Red Bull are unable to do that because their older cars were powered by Renault and not their current suppliers Honda.
One workaround could have been to book a private test with the Honda-powered Toro Rosso from 2018, but instead the team now known as AlphaTauri has opted for a filming day instead at Imola on July 1.
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