Hulkenberg: Daniel has interesting info for us about Red Bull

In an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Hulkenberg said of his new teammate, "He brings in a breath of fresh air to the team and he will have information for us about Red Bull, like some of the things they do. How to setup the car for example. That will be interesting for sure."

But at the same time the German is realistic, "We drivers are not technicians and certainly not into aerodynamics. He cannot tell us: they do the bargeboard like that! Unfortunately, that's not how it works, but he could help us by explaining what Red Bull did in setup or what systems they have on the car."

Although Renault finished fourth in the 2018 Formula 1 constructors' championship, they were way off the big three teams and seemed to run out of gas in the latter half of the season.

Hulkenberg added, "There were many things that made us feel positive, but there were also some points where we are just not good enough. We still have a lot of work to do."

"The dominant theme in Formula 1 is the aerodynamics. That's where most of the performance comes from. The updates did not always work as we expected. There is never just one or two big things, it's about improving in every detail."

This year Renault will only have struggling McLaren as a benchmark after three years of being compared to Red Bull and falling drastically short on the chassis side. With 'similar' power units Hulkenberg was 1.8 seconds slower than Max Verstappen at last year's season opener in Melbourne.

The gap in qualy and race hovered around the one and 1.5 seconds all year. At the season finale in Abu Dhabi at the end of Q3, the difference was 1.1 seconds between Hulkenberg and Ricciardo.

Hulkenberg explained, "The third year of the Renault comeback [as a works team] is behind us which means we are at the halfway point of the project, at the end of which we want to be at the top."

"That's how long it took at Mercedes, at Ferrari and at Red Bull. They worked at getting there but it took time and we need time. Today no one gets into Formula 1 and blows away everyone. Everything has become too complex. You have to find the right staff first. It all takes time. "

For the Formula B brigade - where Renault remains - there is a sliver of hope that the new rules provide an opportunity to find an early edge over rivals.

Hulkenberg explained, "With the new front wings no one knows exactly where to go. This is not a full reboot, rather a soft reset. As a factory team, we must target to be much closer to the front."

"In the last race [Abu Dhabi] we were missing between one and two seconds on the top teams. We must at least try to reduce that by half," added the 31-year-old Le Mans winner, who has yet to finish on an F1 podium despite 156 Grand Prix starts.