MOTORSPORT: First look at Ricciardo's Renault

Daniel Ricciardo's new Formula 1 team, Renault, is counting on the Australian recruit giving it the spark to challenge Mercedes, Ferrari and now-Honda-powered Red Bull for podiums in the season starting in Australia in a month.

Renault has improved its V6 hybrid power unit - the BBC's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson says perhaps by as much as 35kW (46bhp) in qualifying trim and 20kW (27bhp) in race mode - but it admits major chassis advances to make it a title threat will take a couple of years.

The French manufacturer's British-based team launched its RS19 model overnight, but the car it starts testing in Spain next week and races in Melbourne next month will be substantially different.

Ricciardo is hugely excited about his switch from Red Bull to Renault, saying he intends to bring the energy to inject a new spring into the team's step.

He says he's inspired by Lewis Hamilton's move several years ago from McLaren to Mercedes, which seemed odd at the time but has made the Brit a five-time world champion.

Among the key people assisting Ricciardo's quest to add to his seven Grand Prix wins and 29 podiums will be another Australian, Chris Dyer, who was race engineer to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari during the early 2000s.

Dyer, who began his career at Holden Racing Team in the 1990s, says he has seen "an amazing transformation" at Renault since joining the team, which has expanded its workforce 50 per cent since 2016.

Renault won driver and constructor titles in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso but later gave up being a factory team, only supplying engines to others, before buying back its old outfit - which had been running as Lotus - at the end of 2015.

Ricciardo says Renault - ninth in 2016, sixth in 2017 and fourth last season - now has the resources to compete with the big three teams. Although, he concedes without a chassis created by Red Bull genius Adrian Newey, "it might not be this year".

"Renault has a massive history in motorsport, so to be part of the next step of their F1 journey is an exciting challenge," Ricciardo said.

"I aim to be able to get the team to work that extra bit harder, put in more effort and rally everyone together.

"I'd like to be a catalyst for positive energy.

"Everything I learned in 2018 (from the heartbreak of repeated mechanical failures after early wins in China and Monaco) will make me a better version of myself in 2019.

"The difference will be a more mature person.

"I have more clarity of where I'm going and I aim for that to be shown with good results on track.

"I feel a lot of positive pressure and expectation to do good things, but that's something I'm looking forward to taking on."

Renault Sport Racing president Jerome Stoll said F1 "is a laboratory for our future road-going technology, as seen by the new engine designation - Renault E-Tech 19".

"It is a very exciting time to be in F1," Stoll said.

Team managing director Cyril Abiteboul said the combination of Ricciardo and German Nico Hulkenberg would be "one of the strongest - if not the strongest - driver line-up on the grid".

"Daniel brings proven race-winning experience and knowledge of a top team," Abiteboul said.

"Nico is hungry (amazingly the German is yet to stand on an F1 podium, although he was an A1 GP champion and has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans). He's hugely under-rated - quick, determined and a team motivator.

"Individually they are very strong and I feel the two will complement each other extremely perfectly.

"The energy they have brought to the team is very tangible and I hope we can give them a car to show their considerable talent."

The BBC's Benson has written that Ricciardo's presence at Renault "has a double benefit - he's not only one of the best drivers in the sport and arguably the best overtaker, he's also the funniest; his fluorescent perma-smile and likeable personality make him a ray of human sunshine.

"The excitement as Ricciardo addressed the team (the night before the launch) in the room where the cars are prepared was palpable.”

Abiteboul said recruiting the Aussie had been "a huge boost" and "it could also be a spark".

"At some point you need something to ignite the mixture and that is what I hope is coming from Daniel."