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Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he struggled to extract the most from the upgraded Renault power unit as he finished fourth in the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Monaco Grand Prix winner was unable to match team-mate Max Verstappen throughout the weekend as all six Renault powered cars debuted updated engines.
Verstappen topped the times in all three practice sessions before converting his third place grid slot into the final place on the podium, behind race winner Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).
Ricciardo was able to make progress from his starting position of sixth by jumping Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) at the start before then leapfrogging Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) through strategy.
While pleased to finish fourth, the Australian felt that he struggled with the upgraded Renault engine on his car.
The Perth driver avoided a possible grid penalty heading into the race after his team reverted to an older MGU-K to replace a wrecked component from Monaco.
“We had the upgrade this weekend and my car struggled more with the driveability, the calibration,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.
“It could have been better, let’s say that. I was just struggling to keep the tyres under control with that driveability.
“I would say it explains some of the inconsistency. But also Max was driving really well all weekend, so I won’t take that away from him.”
“I’m relatively content for a fourth place.
“We did all we could. For us to take a few points away is a little win, and gives us a lot of encouragement.”
Ricciardo is fourth in the championship standings but has gained two points on Hamilton, who is now a point behind new points leader Vettel.
However, the Red Bull driver is expecting his title fight to take a knock with engine penalties on the horizon having utilised the permitted amount of MGU-K components for the season.
“I’m pretty happy we got through the whole weekend,” he added.
“We got some good points, I believe we gained two points in the championship because we got Lewis.
“We’ll see what happens. It’ll bite us soon, we’ll try to stay on top while we can.”
