Daniel Ricciardo says he's having no second thoughts about his move to McLaren despite Renault's strong recent form.
Only the two Mercedes drivers have outscored the Australian since the Belgian Grand Prix, with his two fourths, a fifth and a sixth putting Ricciardo into the incredibly tight battle for fourth in the Drivers' Championship.
In the teams' standings, the gaps are just as close, with Renault just seven points behind McLaren, who sit third, and Racing Point in between them in fourth.
But though the French manufacturer is starting to show the potential they promised Ricciardo when they lured him from Red Bull after 2018, he believes his decision to leave is still the right one.
“Obviously no disrespect to Renault and where I currently am, but no I don’t regret it,” he said.
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“Am I happy to see us progress? Absolutely. If it means that we’ve got Renault as a competitor next year to push McLaren further, then I think that’s good for everyone. So no, I’m not regretting it.
“But I’m also not unhappy with the progress. I want to be racing at the front, and obviously, every race in F1 is so important. So, every chance I get to do it, you know, the sooner the better.
“I am glad we’re making progress and I feel a part of it, which is important as well for me, and I guess my growth as a driver.”
One key difference between Renault and McLaren this year is the lack of a podium finish, whereas the Woking-based team has two.
And Ricciardo does still feel it will take a strange set of circumstances for him to score that elusive top-three finish in yellow.
“Not to be pessimistic but I think on the pace we are just not quite there,” he told RACER. “The reality is that at best we can be the fourth-quickest car on track.
“You need a bit of a reliability issue or a lap one debacle or something [to finish on the podium], reliability would be a little nicer.
"I don’t wish a crash on anyone, so if one of them wants to have an issue when I’m running fourth at any point that’s cool, I’ll take it," he added.
"Certainly we can realistically aim for a Q3 at every track no matter what the layout."
