Ricciardo still coming to terms with losing Spain win

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo admitted his defeat in the Spanish Grand Prix is hard to take after he led the opening stages of Sunday’s race.

The Red Bull driver slipped to fourth place having led 30 laps after switching to a three-stop tyre strategy.

“The outcome of the race was frustrating,” Ricciardo said. “Is it easy to move on? I wouldn’t say easy. Can you move on? Absolutely.”

“It’s been a few days since the race and I still wake up with it on my mind. I’m going to bed with it off my mind but I’m waking up with it on my mind. It’ll take a bit of time.”

Ricciardo had his second puncture in three races
Ricciardo also led the Chinese Grand Prix before suffering a puncture and qualified strongly in Russia before being involved in a first-corner crash triggered by previous team mate Daniil Kvyat.

“I think it’s more probably the last three races I feel the end result hasn’t been what we’ve deserved,” he said. “I think there’s always been something better available for me. Now it’s just like, come on. At the same time that’s just racing and it’s part of it.”

Kvyat’s replacement Max Verstappen won for the team in Spain, a result which left Ricciardo feeling conflicted.

“Part of me is happy that the team’s winning again and part of me is happy that everyone’s super-motivated and confidence is high,” he said. “That’s a positive and I’m trying to draw myself to [it].”

“Obviously from a personal side it was massively frustrating. It’s a tough one. Sure it’s a team sport but you are doing it for yourself as well and as individual as it is team, that balance is a tricky one to try and manage. Obviously from a personal side it’s still a hard one to take.”

However Ricciardo believes it can be positive for him that Verstappen’s ability has been rewarded so soon in his career.

“Max is a serious F1 driver,” said Ricciardo. “It’s actually really good for me, it’s really good motivation.”

“I said when I joined Red Bull and I came against Seb I wanted to come against the best and challenge myself. And now Max is the newest challenge for me and I think he’s a big one. So I think in a way it’s good that he’s having success because if I can get on top of that then it’s only good for me and probably for both our careers.”

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    Keith Collantine
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    75 comments on “Ricciardo still coming to terms with losing Spain win”

    1. I think he is more worried now that he isn’t the “#1” driver on his team. His world turned upside down in Spain. He’s no longer top dog in the kennel.

      1. You’re dreaming if you really believe that!

        There’s no denying Max is a good driver. Just as there is no denying that strategy and track conditions cost Ricciardo the race and served it up for Max.

        Let’s see what the rest of the season brings…

        1. Everybody keeps saying that Ricciardo lost the game because of his strategy. Think Ricciardo isn’t the best on tire management. It was an easy thing to say for him. This strategy he was on could have worked he just needed to pass the Ferrari. He was on the newest tires but was unable to pass Vettel. If he would have past Vettel it would been even easier to pass Raikkonen and Verstappen.

      2. I think you are partly right. RIC definitely knows he has to be on his game to beat VES. Is his world upside down and is he still not top dog in the kennel. I don’t think so. RIC has way more actual cred than VES has right now. That may change, but right now VES is the great white hope and may deliver on that. RIC has some actual cred to back his #1 status in the team.

        The thing I liked about that interview was how frustrated and hungry RIC is to show he is better than VES. Both drivers have a lot to prove. VET had nothing to prove when RIC came along and I think that was a major factor in RIC beating him. I didn’t see that same hunger from VET when RIC joined the team in 2014.

        I rate RIC highly. I rate VES highly too. RIC has more runs on the board up to this point and has always delivered to a high level. VES has one run on the board so far and it was a good one. However he was smashed in qualifying and luck did fall his way. But you make your own luck and RIC was the beneficiary of that 3 times in 2014. as well.

        Monaco will be a good test for both drivers. It’s a challenging track. I can’t wait for it to start. VES Vs RIC is going to be awesome for the rest of the year.

        1. I agree that it makes things very exciting. You could see it in that awesome Q3 lap from Ricciardo, the match is really on and it will certainly give Red Bull back a purpose to fight (which felt a bit lacking in the last season and a half).

      3. @bcracing Exactly what Nick says. I’m a huge Verstappen fan (partly because I’m Dutch as well), but I don’t think Ricciardo will be demoted to second driver of the team.

        Apart from that, I do believe that Red Bull wants to provide equal opportunity to both drivers as long as they have equal chances (to win races and win the championship), but in the end the individual performance will result in one driver becoming the #1 for that season. For this season it will remain Ricciardo, even if Verstappen outperforms him regularly. Simply put: Verstappen still has to earn his stripes among the top drivers. He could just as well become a second driver for the rest of his life just as Massa, Barrichello, Webber and such.

        1. With any luck this talk of first and second driver is not necessary. I hope both DR and MV have the same chance on the team and that since they are not fighting for the WDC, and will need Merc problems in order to win races, they should just work together to progress the car and not consider a driver rivalry, other than in a healthy competition kind of way. Sure, push each other, but make the goal to advance the car together, while it lags behind the benchmark Mercs.

          1. I agree that Ricciardo has more credits in the team than the new kid on the block and rightly so.
            But in Q1 and in Q2 Ricciardo was much slower than VES, in Q3 he drastically changed his frontwing and it payed out for him, all credits for this decision by him and his team of engineers.
            But you don’t score points in qualifying and it had a huge impact on his settings for the race.
            The team decided a 3-stopper for him, because they feared he would ruin his tyres with a 2-stop strategy and these settings.

            Another problem was that in his first stint in clear air, he could not get rid of VES, the difference was always in the range of 1.5 – 2 sec. till he piited.
            Simply put he lacked speed due the race settings that were optimal for qualifying but not for the race.
            That compromised the 2-stop strategy too and that’s why Vettel could get the better of him with the undercut.

            I hope in Monaco he will get on top of it again, if not so, the Aussie has a serious problem…

            1. Of course it should have been 3-stop strategy in the pre-last sentence, sorry for the typo.

            2. @auria Interesting those details about the front wing and the effect it had on his race, where did you get that from?

            3. Hold up, I’m fairly sure he was holding him at 1.5 – 2 seconds, just outside of DRS range, all he needed to do, eek the tyres out and make them last the stint, push when required for the undercut. Pretty standard for all top drivers to do that these days when in the lead. Also do you have a source on that front wing bit? I could see it possibly wearing the fronts a small amount extra but a 1 or 2 degree wing change isn’t going to significantly wear out the tyres.

        2. Hasn’t Ricciardo already been demoted to number two status, though? Why was he put on the less optimal strategy in Spain? Why was a rookie put on the best strategy by the team? Isn’t it blindingly obvious?
          Red Bull are not a team that mince their words or hide behind ambiguity – as Webber discovered. Dr Helmut liked Verstappen and feels vindicated in his decision to promote the kid. You can be sure Red Bull will now prioritise the kid over Ricciardo, and the Aussie will have to put up or move on. Ironically, this situation has an exact parallel in the tensions between Vettel and Webber some years back.

          1. @rantingmrp I think this site ran down the circumstances very well as to what happened with DR and why they pitted him when they did. It is easy to look at it in hindsight, but I don’t believe for one second that their desire was to hang DR out to dry and promote MV. They already did promote him to RBR. The win was only gravy because let’s face it, had the Mercs stayed alive there would have been no RBR winner.

            For me, if RBR are now going to make MV a ‘number one’ that would be a shame and would rob the viewing audience of a great show. But I am 100% confident they will treat both drivers equally.

            1. duncan idaho
              20th May 2016, 23:02

              Marko and Horner? I’m less than 50% confident only because Verstappen hasn’t proven talent yet.

            2. Oh, I agree, @Robbie. Ricciardo has a right to feel a bit disappointed, and I for one do not really buy the Verstappen fuss – sure, he’s good, but he is still very untested and very immature. He would have to do what Lewis did in 2007 to rank up there – and I’m not sure RBR is the right place for that to happen. They still have their young driver programme, so who knows which other kid is knocking on the RBR main team door soon?
              I don’t see, however, how Ricciardo and Verstappen can be on the same team. Verstappen showed while in Torro Rosso that he is not averse to putting pressure on the team to constrain his teammate so he, Verstappen, can benefit. With a win in his pocket and the momentum behind him, it will be difficult for Ricciardo to get a word in edgewise.
              I hear Nico wants to go to Ferrari. The rumours online are that Alonso would replace Nico, but that would be too toxic given Alonso’s history with Lewis. If I were Toto, I’d be calling Ricciardo and letting him know I’m interested.

            3. @rantingmrp I think MV is special but yes of course there is much to see yet in his long career. I don’t think he ‘has to’ do an LH to ‘rank up there.’ He’s already had a phenomenal start to his career, and all the time in the world to do it his way, not anybody else’s.

              I don’t see how DR and MV can’t be on the same team. MV putting pressure on the team? Ok. Normal stuff. DR won’t get a word in? Don’t see why. It’s going to be a great rivalry and DR can only do what he always does every weekend no matter the lineup. Everything in his power. You claim MV’s current status is untested and immature, and yet that he is a threat to DR like he’s already overshadowed. DR could outqualify him and lead him for the majority of the season too, you know. And MV would remain respectful of that and honored to have the spot and learn. But he has a ton of compete in him too so it’s going to be a blast.

              Let’s see the season through and I predict a healthy strong pairing that could bring RBR back to the fore. Of course much will change with the cars next year too, so that’s a massive new element that may greatly affect the order of things, even between teammates.

              You hear Nico wants to go to Ferrari? No you didn’t. You heard someone’s rumours that are baseless. Oh sure from the romantic sense they say all drivers aspire to race for Ferrari some day, but where Nico wants to be is where he is at home, with a car that is his best possible tool with which to win a WDC.

            4. Has anyone considered that this wasn’t about making VES the number one driver but about publicity?
              Red Bull are seeking publicity after all with all they are doing. Having the young 18 year old win a race at his first GP will get a lot of headlights about youngest ever to win the Dutch papers will go crazy etc etc.
              In a time where Red Bull isn’t winning everything, having such strong publicity will be glorious for them.
              Not only that they will also shut down everyone who was saying negative things about how they treat drivers when they demoted Daniil etc by showing how they made the right choice.

              Ves winning was all win for them. I think they truly wanted Ves to win because of that.

        3. Ricciardo is just unlucky he’s being teamed up with Verstappen, it’s almost impossible for him to shine with an eighteen-year old prodigy in the team.
          No disrespect to Ricciardo, i wrote on this site more than a year ago that any of the top drivers in F1 that got Verstappen as a team mate would suffer. Too much talent, too much confidence and too much hunger to deal with. Verstappen would have put Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel (alphabetical order) in the shade within a couple of years as well. Ricciardo is the unfortunate one and I suspect he will have to leave Red Bull rather quickly before Verstappen does permanent damage to his career.

          People keep talking about how well Sainz has been doing, and I agree. But he was in reality no match for Verstappen when you consider the experience each had in single seaters. Sainz was competitive for the first half of the 2015-season but as Verstappen got more experience he was dominating the second half of the season. This year Verstappen had made another step and was inching further ahead.

          This guy is going to continue to develop faster than any other driver we’ve seen in F1. We have yet only seen a little bit of the potential he has.

          You can see it in Ricciardos behavior too, not quite as cool and happy as he used to be. If Kvyat had been in the other Red Bull in Spain and had won the race he would have smiled and said “that’s racing”. But not now, he knows how he compares to Max in the simulator and is starting to see that translate onto the track. He knows he’s in the fight of a lifetime and is starting to look a bit rattled. I don’t blame him, if he beats Verstappen this year everybody will expect that. But if he’s beaten on a regular basis by Verstappen either this year or next year his claim to being a top driver in F1 will fade.
          I fully expect Verstappen to become the youngest WDC ever in F1, so Ricciardo’s single chance at a WDC for Red Bull will be next year. By then he’ll be 27.

          1. That’s it really: Ricciardo has everything to lose, Verstappen everything to win.

            When you’re the proven member of the team as Ricciardo is, it’s expected of you to be (at the very least slightly) quicker than your up-and-coming team mate. If you’re slower or just as fast, it shows you’re lacking raw speed/talent, if you’re faster, it only shows you’re more experienced. That’s the difficulty Ricciardo’s facing.

            In the end we’ve to wait and see where both end up. To me, both Ricciardo and Vettel have proven to not match up to Alonso and Hamilton when it comes to overall talent. Both suffered dramatically in less than stellar cars, even these days Vettel doesn’t seem to outperform Raikkonen as much, from who we all know has lost his edge since his sabbatical.

            1. @addvariety
              I wouldn’t say that Vettel not being ahead of Raikkonen right now proves anything, given that unreliability and incidents have clouded the performance of both drivers. That would be like using the last 7/8 races to downplay Hamilton.

            2. @david-a

              Exactly.

              I also think it’s a bit early to hand Ric out to dry. He’s had one race with his new team mate and which ever side of the boat you’re on surely you at least would have to say he was on par or close to it at least.

              I really think it’s a bit early to be making these judgements. One race is hardly enough to judge.

          2. @kimiwillbeback +1

    2. He is feeling exactly how Seb felt in 2014 in RBR. The new kid on the block stealing limelight and seizing the opportunity.

      A little crash course from Several for emotional crisis management would be quite useful 😂

      1. *Several = Seb

      2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        20th May 2016, 13:36

        He’s witnessed that happen first-hand to a 4 time WDC champion. It all started with a win and Ricciardo wasn’t even able to win his inaugural Red Bull race although he came pretty close during the race at least. He doesn’t need to look that far back or that far away. Even if Red Bull didn’t want to shock the world and get free publicity, they now have to consider the benefit of having a new wunderkind take all the glory.

      3. Difference is he outperformed Vettel on merit. Ricciardo and Verstappen were on terms with each other during the race and eventually the strategy played out that Verstappen was on the better option.

        1. Max was faster in the race than Ricciardo.

          1. By virtue of crossing the line in the least amount of time yes. But given they were on different strategies we didn’t really see a clear indicator of pace. Earlier in the race they were on terms with each other pace wise, but later in the race on the 3 stop strategy Ricciardo was lapping faster.

            1. Yes, with 10 laps fresher tyres and a lot less fuel after the final pit stop, in which he destroyed his tyres by pushing too hard behind Vettel.

              Max’s fastest lap was .6 sec slower than Daniel’s. But… they put in their fastest laps immediately the lap after their final pit stop, which was lap 36 and 46 respectively, both on a medium set. With a total of 66 laps, that meant Max had fuel for at least 30 laps to carry with him during his fastest lap and Ricciardo only 20, which is 33% less fuel, a huge amount.

              Count in the statement of Max that he deliberately nursed his tyres from his final stint the first 10 laps or so because he knew he had to go to the end, this means he didn’t actually push 100%. Which Daniel did, since he was behind Vettel after his pit stop, knowing he didn’t need to stop anymore either and trying to catch Vettel, therefore pushing more by default.

              I’m not saying Verstappen was actually faster, but up until lap 27, when both still had an equal strategy, there wasn’t much between them. Looking at the blue line of Ricciardo in the article below, he was very slightly faster most of the time.
              https://www.racefans.net/2016/05/15/2016-spanish-grand-prix-lap-times-and-fastest-laps/

            2. @addvariety
              “there wasn’t much between them”
              I think by far that is the fairest thing to say after only one race.

          2. Dont agree max was faster..his car had different wing and strat..6 kph faster…max was slower in quali

            1. Max was slower in qualy because Ricciardo made a late call change to his frontwing in Q3.
              James Alled disclosed it.
              http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2016/05/get-your-money-on-red-bull-for-next-weekends-f1-monaco-grand-prix/

              This had a major impact on his race settings, his speed and the tyre degradation during the race.
              In clear air he was marginally faster than Max.

              The other thing, Max was in a Dutch TV show yesterday.
              He said that initially Ricciardo was on a 2-stop strategy too.
              But because the tyre degration was pretty severe they changed his strategy to a 3-stopper.

              To wrap up.
              Max was more gentle on his tyres, primarily he had more suitable race settings, so he could pursue with the 2-stopper, although it was a very close call in the end.
              Ricciardo was not so gentle on the tyres and got a puncture because of that.

        2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          20th May 2016, 16:16

          @philipgb I’m not sure Ricciardo is faster than Vettel or beat Vettel on merit as you say. JEV looked as good as Ricciardo, if not better, during the races at Toro Rosso but he had reliability issues. Suddenly Ricciardo went to Red Bull and everything went great for him but not so great for Seb and we are seeing that with Max where literally the stars converged to help Max beat Daniel. The team’s silence is eerily similar of the position they took with Daniel and Seb. Seb of course didn’t want to stick around to figure out what was going on. Red Bull seem to have the shortest memory of any team I’ve known.

          1. Are you serious? Ricciardo was better than Vettel in 2014 by a good margin. I think it was an average of 0.25 in qualifying from memory and much better in the races. Look it wasn’t the massive walkover that many suggest, but he did beat him convincingly. In Sebs defence, I don’t think he was on the top of his game in 2014.

            As for Ricciardo Vs Verne. Why do people not remember the facts of that year. On average Ricciardo was 0.7 seconds faster in qualifying. I say that again. 0.7 seconds. Massive. Yes the points may show Verne beat him, but there is a lot that happens in races that means sometimes point are not reflective of talent. If we were to just judge points right now, you would have to say Rosberg is twice the driver Hamilton is as he has almost twice the amount of points. We all know that isn’t the case though. RBR racing were in possession of the facts that year. They promoted Ricciardo and sent Verne to the scrap heap. Verne is still hopeless in those E cars as well.

            1. I agree with you that Ricciardo beat a Vettel who wasn’t at 100%.

            2. Yeah the way I think of SV’s 2014 is that he came from 4 years in a row of a car that fit him like a glove, that he was at one with, and then their new car with the weak Renault PU was just absolutely frustrating and demotivating for him. DR was in a can-do-no-wrong situation. Do less than SV and it’s no surprise…do better and it’s gravy…no real pressure.

          2. Red Bull as a company thrives on marketing and grabbing headlines. They cannot survive in F1 with conservative techniques competing against with the traditional companies like Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams & McLaren who make cars for a living. Coming from a different industry, an industry which survives on marketing colored water, they are bound to take an aggressive approach like the way they do today. They target youngster market. The ones who mix Vodka and RedBull for a Friday night party !!! For them younger the better !!!!

            They lost interest in Vettel as soon as he became a family man with kids et all and started growing older & wiser. Luckily for Vettel he grabbed 4 WDCs by then. He was ready for Ferrari and Ferrari was ready for him. Timing could not have been better.

            Ricciardo was at the right place at the wrong time. Wrong time being “arrival of Max Verstappen & Mercedes dominance”. I am afraid Ricciardo might end up as another Webber if he stays longer with Max otherwise he will have to leave the team for Ferrari or Merc to pursue his ambitions. To RBR’s philosophy Ricciardo is kind of old used goods compared to Max who is fresh and cool. Ricciardo can never beat Max’s marketing value to RBR and F1. Christian, Marco , Mateschitz, Bernie, Todt et all will love this. The one only Driver on the grid who can pose a challenge to Max in terms of Marketing value (be it with RBR or anywhere else) is Lewis Hamilton. Lewis and RBR is a match made in heaven. Unfortunately we might never see that happen.

            To be fair with RBR, they are very candid with this strategy. Everybody is aware of it. To be even more fair to them They have built some of the best cars in F1 in the last decade and brought in some of the best talent in F1 much to the surprise of the traditional rivals whoa re struggling at that. Lewis ws the only exception. Hats off to Christian and Marko for that. They have their own corporate strategy & directions. We have no right to complain about it.

            1. Vettel didn’t leave RBR because they’d had enough of him, more that Seb had had his eyes on Ferrari for a long time (as do most drivers ), a gap became available and he grabbed it.

              According to Webber’s book Marko did all possible to keep the 2010 championship open so Vettel had the chance to win, even at risk of losing altogether. I hope RIC doesn’t get the same treatment.

          3. @freelittlebirds

            I don’t think we were watching a 100% Vettel in 2014, he’s a clever guy and was positioned exactly where he needed to be to for his contract exit clause but Ricciardo was still beating the guy in qualifying and on track and not just through occasional strategy flukes. The move he pulled on Vettel at Monza was inspired.

            And Vergne and Ricciardo had a season ahead of each other each. Importantly Ricciardo’s was in 2013 and he had a clear qualifying advantage.

            1. 100% vettel? He couldnt adapt to the new regs and made a lot of mistakes in 2014..yes he was trying

          4. Ric flogged jev in qual and ran out of tyres in the race…l remember Rics tyres going over the cliff many times in the closing stages of the races…jev couldnt qualify

    3. It probably doesn’t help that a poor run of performance could see him being replaced during a season, in the Red Bull game changer from usual season long contracts. Though I don’t think he has anything to worry about.

      1. are you serious? why would he even think that? I guess you still don’t understand why kvyat was replaced, that was more political then anything, it was going to happen regardless at the end of the year, kvyat just gave them an easy option to take that right away.

        do you not recall ricciardo has been wanting to leave red bull? he would be picked up by ferrari or mercedes in a heartbeat if red bull was to release someone like ricciardo, he has nothing left to prove, he is a wanted man in F1 now.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          20th May 2016, 16:27

          @MarkM Precisely – he’s a wanted man in F1 now but by the end of the season he may not be… We’ve seen at Red Bull a pattern that’s reinforced by Verstappen’s entry and victory in his inaugural race with Red Bull. The newer and younger guy beats the older guy. Vettel had a huge advantage over Webber and Red Bull never really tried to give Webber the advantage – they were content to let Vettel have it. That surprisingly also happened with Vettel on the heel of 9 victories and 4 WDCs and WCCs – the team never accepted responsibility or tried to get Vettel to victory. They were content with Daniel beating Vettel. We’ve seen the same over the past week – Red Bull is elated to have Verstappen win the race and they are mum about Ricciardo. Ricciardo has expressed great dissatisfaction over the race and over the next 2-3 races, he will know whether he has to leave or stay. If Versappen beats him, Sainz will be replacing Daniel at the end of 2017.

    4. Daniel for sure will have to step it up a notch. Max will push much harder then Daniil.

      Max is extremely competitive. Dutch reporter told this story after qualifying for spain:
      After Daniel beat Max time in Q3, Max stayed with his new engineers after qualifying to find out how Daniel was able to beat his time.

      I think Max and Daniel are a great match. They will push each other to the max.

      1. How could he possibly step it up a notch? In China his was in the lead when his tyre exploded. In Russia he was near the front when he got crashed into. In Spain he outqualified his team mate by 4 tenths, was leading the race but ultimatly lost out due to strategy. Then his tyre exploded again. The guy just needs some better luck, strategy and tyres.

        1. The suggestion that Ricciardo lost the race due to strategy is just to easy.
          It’s like Hamilton saying he’s faster than Rosberg in an interview… show it in the race.
          Fact is Ricciardo finished fourth, if he feels he could be #1 than he should have at least finished third.

          He failed on overtaking the slower Vettel, he lost pace and even though they had three stoppers, both Vettel and Ricciardo lost pace towards the end.

          to say you can win a race only on strategy is a rather bold statement, Verstappen not only won on strategy, he faught like hell for it with the faster Kimi on his tail for lap after lap.

          Ricciardo lost the fight, Verstappen won his, there’s more to winning a GP than just strategy.

          1. He lost the race due to strategy is FACT! not a suggestion! Vettel and Ricciardo is both a victim of the 3 stop but Ricciardo got more bad luck due to puncture.

            Ricciardo beat Vettel in RBR simply because he was faster, so far Max is still not faster than Ricciardo, and that is fact too.

            1. ColdFly F1 (@)
              20th May 2016, 17:00

              it must be a fact because it’s capitalised ;-)

            2. Ricciardo should be ashamed with himself to only manage a gap of 1.5 secs halfway through the race (and closing) to Verstappen. It’s not good enough when you are already a couple of seasons in the team and the young guy next to you that hust started his first race. I like Daniel though, he is one of the good guys.

          2. How do you figure that matn?

    5. This hair is a lost bet right?

    6. I like his attitude there where it’s good that Max has had this success, because if he gets in top that it it’s good for his career.

      Anyway, certainly adds some fresh intrigue to the year. Looking forward to tracks more susceptible to passing!

    7. This is really the first race Ricciardo has lost in F1 whilst in a position to win it. There were occasions where he perhaps could have won (Singapore last year springs to mind) but other cars and drivers simply had the right package on the day.

      It’s something Ricciardo will need to get over and not dwell on too much, because that sort of negativity over a result doesn’t seem to do morale within a team much good (Mercedes after Monaco over the last couple of years with Hamilton springs to mind) and Verstappen will almost certainly be ready to pounce on it.

      Now if Ricciardo is unable to control himself and succumbs to the pressure in the same way Kvyat did, and Sainz continues his form from Spain, what will happen to him? Because I am honestly believe that Red Bull could well be as ruthless as they like.

    8. I really hope and think Max and Daniel can make a great professional and friendly team. None of that childish Lewis and Nico stuff please.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        20th May 2016, 17:04

        better a good neighbour than a distant friend
        Max and Dan live in the same building ;-)

        1. So do Lewis and Nico, next door but one to each other.

    9. I have said many times on here Ricciardo is a very very very good driver, Max is good to push him to the next level, so looking forward to his career. I honestly feel Seb is afraid of him a bit, although Seb is fast I do sense Ricciardo is only slightly mentally stronger when you put the 2 of them together because of 2014…

      1. I still feel Seb’s performance in 2014 had a lot to do with the new DF rules and the way he was less able to adopt to them. Seb was master in the counter-intuitive drivingstyle which the Red Bull from 2010-2013 demanded.

        1. Not just that, there was another factor – the underperforming cause in Vettel’s contract to be released from Red Bull. While Vettel had his share of reliability troubles that year that could have kept him behind Ricciardo regardless, I suspect that the contest would have been much closer if Vettel did not want to go Ferrari way. But we will never know and Vettel will surely not tell.

          1. I don’t believe Seb feels scared, nor do any of the top drivers. They have to believe they have the ability and are entitled to win. Unfortunately for Vettel, he still can’t accept it when things don’t go his way. At least last week’s radio outburst didn’t have any swear words. Maybe FOM have had words with Ferrari.

    10. Dan really needs to beat Max in Monaco or he’s in deep trouble. I’m not surprised he’s woken up thinking about it.

      1. Deep trouble? Why? What exactly would happen to him? I would think both drivers will be with RBR for the duration of the season, and there’s lots of it to go, so lots of time for both drivers to just do their season as it unfolds. RBR will not forget DR’s quali lap nor how the race played out for him and how he is wrestling with it. I think they’ll all be professionals.

    11. So he suddenly wakes up because he has a more competitive team-mate? Wrong attitude to begin with Daniel! Better start to work on it because Max loves honey badgers for breakfast!

    12. I like Riccardo but you can’t dwell on the past. Yes the strategy was a bad one was there anything stopping him from telling the team no stick with a 2 s if you had doubts about the 3 stop. Verstappen was keeping Riccardo honest during the stint so who knows what could have happened. But people trying to make assumptions that Riccardo is head and shoulders above Verstappen or vice versa it’s to early to tell. Verstappen had 3 practice sessions and was only .4 behind Riccardo. Riccardo had all the testing and the first 4 races.

    13. I think he’s feeling a certain Helmut Marko would rather favour Verstappen with strategy to make as much publicity towards the Red Bull brand as possible and feels a bit miffed about the possibility of favouritism.

      1. Yep.

        1. Stop with your conspirary theories, it’s pathetic.

          This is the true story.
          Max was slower in qualy because Ricciardo made a late call change to his frontwing in Q3.
          Good decision by Ricciardo to beat his teammate when it mattered, you would think at first sight…
          James Alled disclosed it.
          http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2016/05/get-your-money-on-red-bull-for-next-weekends-f1-monaco-grand-prix/

          This had a major impact on his race settings, his speed and the tyre degradation during the race.
          In clear air he was marginally faster than Max.

          The other thing, Max was in a Dutch TV show yesterday.
          He said that initially Ricciardo was on a 2-stop strategy too.
          But because the tyre degration was pretty severe during his first stint they changed his strategy to a 3-stopper.

          To wrap up.
          Max was more gentle on his tyres, primarily he had more suitable race settings, so he could pursue with the 2-stopper, although it was a very close call in the end.
          Ricciardo was not so gentle on the tyres due to his optimized qualy race settings and got a puncture because of that.

          1. I wasn’t coming up with a “conspiracy theory” I was just pointing out how Ricciardo is probably feeling about it all going forwards. It doesn’t actually matter what happened because Helmut Marko will see it only one way which will be worrying Ricciardo.

            He wants the youngest possible driver representing the Red Bull brand and winning to get all of the media buzz and attention just like Red Bull does with all of the sports that they participate in. After what happened very publicly over the last month it’s there for everyone to see, he is willing to take big steps to make that happen so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s on Ricciardo’s mind.

    14. This Verstappen vs Riccardo story, will be pure gold for f1 journalists. We havent heard the end of it ;)

    15. Great. I like this. None of Lewis bull, “I am chilled.”

      Rivally thus is born. Daniel should stamp his authority fast or Carlos Seinz will get a go aswell.

      Kvyat last year outscored him… Despite Daniel being faster,etc. Same in Spain, faster, leading the race, then “outscored by teammate.

    16. Whomever comes out on top between these two I am just glad that RBR is back to form and challenging for wins again. To think last season they were potentially without an engine deal and contemplating leaving F1 altogether. Here’s hoping that the Renault team can move forward as well and become a top team in 2017.

    17. I hope RIC’s contract has a get out clause if RB don’t deliver .
      One more strategy call like Spain will be proof enough of favouritism towards VES
      Really hope there’s a way he can get into a Ferrari for 2017

    18. Ricciardo is a true racer, so is Max, Hamilton, Alonso, bottas, probably massa….. you know, they all share 1 common thing….. they all race cleanly on track. Lets forget about the Singapore nonsense, just focus on what they do on track. None of them did what Rosberg did over the past 2 years. I hate cheaters especially in race.

      1. Hamilton has had plenty of occasions when he has damaged opponents’ cars by forcing his way past, but that’s racing not cheating eh?.

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