Renault brought a new upgrade package during the France Grand Prix at Paul Ricard last month. After being outperformed by the Renault’s costumer, McLaren, during the home Grand Prix, the French team struggled in Austria, where neither driver qualified of terminated the race within the top 10.

Both Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg admitted that the disappointing performance is due to the fact that the upgrades, among the others a new front end and new floor, did not have the desired effect.

"I feel like there's no concern that it's anything we bought there [in France] that is hurting us," affirmed Daniel Ricciardo over the last upgrades after the Austrian Grand Prix.

"I will say that we did expect a bit more from those upgrades in terms of laptime translation and that hasn't really shown.

"Maybe there's some correlation stuff with wind tunnel and aero which isn't quite lining up so we'll see, I'll ask a few questions and see what they come back with.

"It's tough because it was frustrating and it is the first time we haven't been in Q3 for a while.

"I don't want to throw my shit out the pram and be like, 'What's going on?'.

"We just have to be constructive and try and understand why, really understand why, as opposed to just throwing it away and saying 'this track doesn't suit us'."

Similarly, Hulkenberg pointed out that the new parts, despite not being ineffective, did not help Renault to progress as much as needed.

"I think the upgrades were a step forward, [but] probably not the step we were looking for," said the German Driver.

"But there's certainly nothing that indicates, or I feel, that the upgrades cause the problem now."

Hulkenberg added that the team has to work hard to enhance the Renault’s competitiveness.

"We need to fix it if we really want to be a serious front-running contender.

"We need to get on top of these things and sort them out."