Lundgaard not surprised by Renault snub

Finley Crebolder
Renault F1 PA

Renault F1 PA

Christian Lundgaard says that, due to the global crisis, he never expected Renault to give him a chance in Formula 1 next season.

The 18-year old, currently driving in Formula 2, is a Renault Academy Driver and was one of the favourites to fill the seat left by Daniel Ricciardo.

However, the French team opted against signing someone from their academy, instead bringing two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso back to the grid.

The decision angered many fans who were excited at the prospect of seeing Lundgaard or fellow academy driver Guanyu Zhou given a chance. The Formula 2 driver though, never got his hopes up.

“Because of the crisis we’ve got around the world, I wasn’t really expecting to even have a chance for next year to be honest,” Lundgaard told Autosport.

“I knew that I didn’t have the super license, and I knew the team was not going to wait until after Monza to decide.

“I need to be sure in the top four to have a super license.”

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With Esteban Ocon likely to be at Renault for a while, when Lundgaard will be given a chance in Formula 1 largely depends on how long Alonso stays with the team. While he doesn’t know the answer to that, he’s trying not to think too far ahead.

“Fernando coming back, I haven’t really got more detail on if it’s a one, two, or more years [on the] contract,” he added.

“But for me, it’s always just to focus on my own job and see what the future brings after that.”

Driving for ART, Lundgaard has enjoyed a strong start to his first full season in Formula 2, winning the sprint race at the second Grand Prix in Austria. His P4, P5 and P6 finishes in the other races were enough for him to sit in P2 in the standings, five points behind Robert Shwartzman, heading to the Hungaroring.

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