F1: Renault now reliable says Ricciardo

Renault has conquered the reliability problem of its Formula 1 engine, according to Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.

The Australian suffered a failure of a high-mileage power unit during practice on Friday afternoon, but he claims the newer-specification engines aren't showing any signs of problems. "Moving forward with the newer engines, they are in a lot better shape on the reliability side," he said. "So I don't fear anything like that [failure] with the new engines."

"From what I understand, everything was old spec [on the Friday engine] so it was pretty much the same thing that happened in Bahrain. So I guess it [the failure] was inevitable at some stage."

Ricciardo will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from fourth on the grid, having lapped just 0.035 slower than third-placed Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari. The Australian believes that going into the race with one unused set of soft-compound Pirellis, unlike the rest of the top-10 qualifiers, could give Red Bull an advantage in the battle for third.

"Ferrari we can genuinely challenge tomorrow," he said. "Even if they are a little bit quicker, we have a new set of options for a two-stop race and maybe that will put us back in the fight. We have got a few things which can work to our advantage tomorrow."

Ricciardo added that, while part of Red Bull's improved performance is down to the twisty nature of the Hungaroring masking the car's power disadvantage, upgrades introduced at Silverstone earlier this month also contributed to the improved speed.

 "It's a bit of both; the circuit helps us, but I feel the updates have come to life a bit more here," said Ricciardo. "I did feel from yesterday morning when we left the garage that the car felt more together. I had more confidence in it, was able to lean on it a bit more, feel the car over the bumps. So it's definitely showing signs of progress."

Originally on Autosport.com