Ricciardo - Red Bull is different since Max joined

[ajprice]

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/16925047/red-b...

not sure if serious.jpg on this bit

"I am sure it is bringing out a bit more in both of us. He has just hit puberty, so I don't know what that means -- if he is going to keep getting better, or if the degradation will start. But we will see. It depends on if he lets it grow out or if he clips!"

Dan knows he's in a fight now, Max is more of a threat than Kvyat ever was. Should make the rest of the year interesting there, especially if RB keep getting better and Ferrari keep making gearboxes out of balsa wood.

[FW18]

I see another Webber/Vettel scenario appearing over the next few years, courtesy of Helmut Marko and his meddling ways.

[alock]

Someone who thought he was going to be the next Vettel has realised he is actually the next Webber.

[Jasandjules]

He is fast. The question is whether Max is faster. He is certainly not being blown away by Ric despite not having much time in that RB...

[Crafty_]

So the pressure on is Ricciardo for the first time, thats what this is all about. Previously he did a steady job at STR, parachuted in to the team where he unexpectedly showed Vettel a clean pair of heels and then kept Kvyat at bay. Now? he's actually got a team mate with all the hype and momentum behind him and not only talented but fast with it.

I still think he needs to watch out for Marko playing games to favour Verstappen, as per the Webber/Vettel era.

The other interesting part of this is if Verstappen has a wobble. Although he appears to be incredibly mature for his age when speaking to the press there must be some tensions behind the scene. If he comes under pressure from RBR, Marko, family etc it could all go a bit wrong. Not saying it will, but its a possibility.

[cgt2]

Crafty_ said:

The other interesting part of this is if Verstappen has a wobble. Although he appears to be incredibly mature for his age when speaking to the press there must be some tensions behind the scene.

Not so sure, he is almost a genetic experiment to make the perfect F1 driver. He is way more mature than many 35 year olds I know..

[cgt2]

Max is making Ricciardo look ordinary..

[BJG1]

I think people made too much of Riccardio beating an unmotivated Vettel. If you'd won 4 titles in a row then had an uncompetitive car, you'd probably take the season a lot less seriously than your rookie team mate. He's got talent but I don't think he'll ever be an elite driver, won't be as good as Hamilton, Vettel or Alonso. Max on the other hand is the real deal, I think he'll go on to be just about the best there's been.

[markcoznottz]

BJG1 said:

I think people made too much of Riccardio beating an unmotivated Vettel. If you'd won 4 titles in a row then had an uncompetitive car, you'd probably take the season a lot less seriously than your rookie team mate. He's got talent but I don't think he'll ever be an elite driver, won't be as good as Hamilton, Vettel or Alonso. Max on the other hand is the real deal, I think he'll go on to be just about the best there's been.

Plus not getting any upgrades once it was known he was leaving red bull.

[VolvoT5]

BJG1 said:

I think people made too much of Riccardio beating an unmotivated Vettel. If you'd won 4 titles in a row then had an uncompetitive car, you'd probably take the season a lot less seriously than your rookie team mate. He's got talent but I don't think he'll ever be an elite driver, won't be as good as Hamilton, Vettel or Alonso. Max on the other hand is the real deal, I think he'll go on to be just about the best there's been.

^This. I think far too much is made of 2014... IIRC Vettel had a nightmare and was clearly disinterested from quite an early point in the season... obviously we now know he was doing a deal with Ferrari at the time.

[Jasandjules]

markcoznottz said:

Plus not getting any upgrades once it was known he was leaving red bull.

I was of the impression he had a break clause in his contract if the car was s**t.. Soooo drive it in a manner where it seems s**t, hey presto, to the prancing ponies you go...

[rsbmw]

Whilst Max is exceptional, I think they're fairly evenly matched. Expect They'll both win some lose some. DR has been unlucky in at least 3 races since max joined, again today unlucky timing on virtual safety car dropped him back. As far as I could tell though he pretty much maintained the gap and was even catching at one point.

We shall see, I still rate Ric highly and he seems a nice bloke so would be good to see him do well.

[cgt2]

rsbmw said:

Whilst Max is exceptional, I think they're fairly evenly matched. Expect They'll both win some lose some. DR has been unlucky in at least 3 races since max joined, again today unlucky timing on virtual safety car dropped him back. As far as I could tell though he pretty much maintained the gap and was even catching at one point.

We shall see, I still rate Ric highly and he seems a nice bloke so would be good to see him do well.

I think they are very even on pace. But Max appears to have a more strategic mind (he mentioned looking at another car's tyre graining today whilst following - a pure Schumacher comment) and he has managed to make his tyres go further in the last few races without losing performance.

Pretty frightening how good he already is at his age. He will be dominant in a few years, I have no doubt at all.

[DeltonaS]

rsbmw said:

Whilst Max is exceptional, I think they're fairly evenly matched. Expect They'll both win some lose some. DR has been unlucky in at least 3 races since max joined, again today unlucky timing on virtual safety car dropped him back. As far as I could tell though he pretty much maintained the gap and was even catching at one point.

We shall see, I still rate Ric highly and he seems a nice bloke so would be good to see him do well.

Maintained the gap ? an 18 seconds lead. After 5 consecutive better finishes than DR ?

I've seen enough. Max at 18 years old is the fastest F1 driver out there. POINT.

Sir Swagger and Rosy Berg are very lucky to be in a Mercedes. Otherwise Max woud've been the youngest f1 champ ever. By a margin.

The End.

[hairyben]

Jasandjules said:

markcoznottz said:

Plus not getting any upgrades once it was known he was leaving red bull.

I was of the impression he had a break clause in his contract if the car was s**t.. Soooo drive it in a manner where it seems s**t, hey presto, to the prancing ponies you go...

I'm more open than most to a bit of enjoyable conspiracy talk but if you honestly think vettel happily pretended to forget how to drive and suffered the indignity of being shown up by his teamate rather than simply negotiate his way out then you sir are nuttier than squirrelst.

As for max.... phenominally talented the kid obviously is I do wonder that lucks on his side slightly. Rosberg was pretty complicit in his pass yesterday and the move was a massive risk - only success made the difference between hero and chump. He was the only driver putting his wheels on the inside kerb at stowe at a point. I think he's right on the limit and a few consecutive races where fortune doesnt favour him could see some very different conversations about him. It's how he comes back from that.

Also - I get the distinct impression the other drivers dont like him very much. It's tough/unfair to make character judgements when youre talking of a 18 year old against grown/mature men but his whole demeanure sometimes seems like some movie vilianesque genetically tampered robot like russian athlete. But maybe I'm just being a real st to the kid?

[Schermerhorn]

Results can be manipulated. All Ricciardo has to feel is that Red Bull have put their arm and backing behind Max and his confidence will be shaken up; more errors will creep in, fractions will appear in relationships and lots of silent treatment between people will go on.

If it was a totally neutral environment, I would put Ricciardo ahead. Factor in bias, and every person will crumble to an extent.

I rate Ricciardo very highly. He is as good as Hamilton and Vettel in my opinion. Just wish there weren't so many shenanigans going on at Red Bull.

[Muzzer79]

DeltonaS said:

rsbmw said:

Whilst Max is exceptional, I think they're fairly evenly matched. Expect They'll both win some lose some. DR has been unlucky in at least 3 races since max joined, again today unlucky timing on virtual safety car dropped him back. As far as I could tell though he pretty much maintained the gap and was even catching at one point.

We shall see, I still rate Ric highly and he seems a nice bloke so would be good to see him do well.

Maintained the gap ? an 18 seconds lead. After 5 consecutive better finishes than DR ?

I've seen enough. Max at 18 years old is the fastest F1 driver out there. POINT.

Sir Swagger and Rosy Berg are very lucky to be in a Mercedes. Otherwise Max woud've been the youngest f1 champ ever. By a margin.

The End.

It's ridiculous to say that he's the "fastest F1 driver out there" after 29 races and 1 win.

What is it with people claiming that sportsmen are the best thing ever when they've been doing it for five minutes?

Driving an F1 car fast isn't just about raw speed. It's your development, your feedback, your approach outside of the car.

He's been in a Red Bull for 5 minutes and out-qualified his team mate once. But for a stupid strategy call in Monaco (where, compared to DR, Max was nowhere) it'd be one win a piece.

He looks good but he has a long career in front of him yet.

[joema]

RIC would have won this year if it wasn't for screwed up pit stops. Too early too call.

[rsbmw]

DeltonaS said:

Maintained the gap ? an 18 seconds lead. After 5 consecutive better finishes than DR ?

I've seen enough. Max at 18 years old is the fastest F1 driver out there. POINT.

Sir Swagger and Rosy Berg are very lucky to be in a Mercedes. Otherwise Max woud've been the youngest f1 champ ever. By a margin.

The End.

What an insightful and well written comment. Thank you.

[KaraK]

Max is certainly looking very much like the real deal at the moment - still plenty that could go wrong of course judging only what has happened not what might happen in the future and you have to say its all so far so good. He's astonishingly mature for his age and seems to be very good at soaking up pressure on the track. His raw pace is excellent and other than the shocker of a weekend at Monaco his error rate seems to be very low, and he doesn't seem to shred his tires much either (definitely a plus in the current regs).

His qualifying has been a little weak but was much improved at Silverstone so we'll have to see if this weekend was him getting the hang of it or not.

Ricciardo has been a little bit off his game in the last couple of races I think - which may well be down to the Monaco SNAFU throwing him off kilter and while I think the jury is still out on whether he is truly a great or just "very good" lets not forget that he is a multiple race winner and a few "off" races doesn't nullify that sort of talent. Overall RBR have got a seriously talented line up at the moment and they must be feeling rather pleased with themselves about that.