In the round-up: Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko wants Daniel Ricciardo to raise his game.
In brief
Tsunoda impressed Marko more than Ricciardo
While neither Ricciardo nor team mate Yuki Tsunoda has scored a point so far this year, Marko is more encouraged by what he’d seen from the less experienced RB driver.
At least Tsunoda is very good in qualifying,” Marko wrote in his column for Red Bull-owned publication Speed Week. “There’s a lot at stake this season for both Yuki and Daniel. Yuki’s qualifying performance was very good and Ricciardo has to come up with something soon.”
Pass for lead “pretty straightforward” – Verstappen
Max Verstappen said his pass for the lead on Lando Norris last weekend was “pretty straightforward” and his overriding concern was to look after his tyres. Norris moved into the lead by deciding not to join most of his rivals in pitting when the Safety Car came out.“He didn’t stop, so naturally he was ahead of me,” said Verstappen. “It took a few laps for me to warm up my hard tyres. I didn’t want to take too many risks as well because when you don’t have a lot of grip, it’s easy to make a mistake around here.
“At one point, once the tyres had a bit of grip, I could catch him and pass him. So it was pretty straightforward.”
Prost reunited with his first McLaren
Alain Prost will perform his first demonstration run in the car he started his grand prix career in later this week. The four-times world champion will drive a McLaren M29 in the Historic French Grand Prix, which will take place at the Paul Ricard circuit from April 19th to 21st.
He scored a point on his debut by taking sixth place in the car at the Argentinian Grand Prix in 1980. However Prost became frustrated by a series of suspension failures in the car which caused crashes, and left the team at the end of the year to join Renault.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Ferrari is reported to be courting several members of Red Bull's technical team in the wake of the controversy surrounding team principal Christian Horner.
Red Bull will Verstappen nicht zwingen (Auto Motor und Sport - German)
'Marko revealed that Mintzlaff, together with head of sales Franz Watzlawick, had also arranged a meeting with majority owner Chalerm Yoovidhya in Dubai on Sunday after the race. Apparently the Austrian side tried to explain to the Thai again why continuing the collaboration with Christian Horner could have a negative impact on the team and the global energy drinks business.'
'Horner's bullish words could now come back to bite him and the Verstappen camp will be even more determined to push through a switch to Mercedes.'
How Alpine developed their car for F1 24 (Xbox)
'We provide the latest aero release to EA Sports to use in the game. It’s highly confidential material which is entrusted to them, however the model isn’t always exactly the same as the one that goes out on track for the first race of the season.'
Srettha to meet Formula E executives (Bangkok Post)
'Mr Srettha, also the finance minister, said Thailand would be an ideal venue for the tour following the jump in sales of electric vehicles in recent years.'
Benavides fastest by only three thousandths on first day of Winter Test (Euroformula Open)
'It was a day of ‘study’ for rookie Fernando Barrichello, flanked by his illustrious father Rubens, and of return to action for Francesco Simonazzi.'
'Those were all points rival team owner Chip Ganassi made in his defence of Penske’s leadership, and Penske himself dismissed the comparisons of 'F1 does it this way' or 'but NASCAR does it that way' because IndyCar has a fraction of media rights deals the other series hold, and nothing close to the revenue stream of the other two series.'
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Not sold on Formula E? Dario Franchitti thinks you need to reconsider (Racer)
'I love internal combustion engines. I’m an old petrolhead and I love the sound of different cars, different engines, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy FE. The level of competition and the types of races that it puts on are bloody good.'
How Formula 1 finally made inroads in America (Vanity Fair)
'I think there was always going to be a levelling off period because you can't have that much growth without having a period where it plateaus for a while. I think F1 recognised that too and is happy to consolidate the gains for now. It also so happens that we had a super-dominant Red Bull team last year that won 21 of the 22 races. Without that competitive intrigue, you don't necessarily convince people to get up early on a Sunday morning to watch a race on the other side of the world.'
Full race: Qatar 1812km (WEC via YouTube)
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
.@ESPN-2 got 920,000 viewers for Saturday's @F1 race from Saudi Arabia, down 40% from 1.523 million viewers last year, though that event was on the main ESPN channel and held on a Sunday. pic.twitter.com/taJVx2trK4
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) March 12, 2024
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
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Comment of the day
Did Sergio Perez deserve a tougher penalty for ignoring the red light during his pit stop last weekend?
The worst part is that the penalty made him probably lose less that if he had waited, not really a deterrent for the future.
Basically the message sent is that if you’re front runner and have first pit box, don’t wait for the queue of cars to pass by your box and lose positions.
@Jeanrien
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Armen, Pabs, Starosta and Aqib!
On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Onyx launched its first Formula 1 car, the Ford-powered ORE1, at the Hippodrome in London. The team scored a podium finish in its first season thanks to Stefan Johansson’s drive to third place at Estoril
RH
13th March 2024, 0:29
Ricciardo might have become washed at McLaren afterall. They completely ruined a rapid driver. At Jeddah I saw a driver who was afraid of the limit while it was the same guy who took pole at Monaco by touching the barriers. It is unbelievable what happened to him at Woking. Unbelievable.
Tristan
13th March 2024, 1:13
If your car doesn’t have the grip, as he was complaining about post-qual, I guess it makes sense to avoid the walls if it could step out at any moment. Slow qually is still a better result than finishing in the wall. But his car didn’t seem to be stepping out all the time… Don’t know, maybe if FOM let me sign up for F1TV I’d watch on board and find out. But cash at the cost of offering a good product is more important for them.
His race was entirely compromised by the teams mistake in the pit stop anyway, and NOBODY could overtake at that track, so it’s all a bit of a non-issue. For sure Marko loves his media-pressure-cooker environment, but as much as a driver deserves it for their mistakes (they don’t) the team deserves it just as much for theirs.
Ricciardo is clearly Horner’s boy, the one who’s been in the press praising Ricciardo since leaving McLaren. Given the rift at Red Bull, I’d be taking Marko’s words with a grain of salt. I bet he’d work to remove Ricciardo at first opportunity if Horner left, regardless of results.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
13th March 2024, 3:03
Yeah I missed what happened to RIC during the race. Suddenly he was last and that was that…?
Tristan
13th March 2024, 3:09
He had nearly a minute stop, they had the wrong tyres ready and the crew had to go find the right ones mid-stop. Monaco 2016, basically.
Retired (@jeff1s)
13th March 2024, 8:05
What are you talking about Tristan ?
Yes, he had a-minute-stop – but it was under the Safety Car.
He was last and rejoined last, closer to rivals due to SC.
Tristan
13th March 2024, 10:15
oh, he was last before the sc? I wasn’t aware of that… I had assumed the stop put him there, so just a bad start then?
Retired (@jeff1s)
13th March 2024, 11:56
Just re-watched and my bad mate!
Ricciardo was 15 of the 19 remaining drivers before Stroll crash – made him 14th of 18 after he cleared Stroll’s corner.
He lost position to both Saubers, Ocon & Sargeant. Then spent half the race trying to overtake Bottas, which he did on lap 25/50. Then benefited the Magnussen mess to regroup the field but overtook none bar Zhou whom pitted for softs. A season start to forget.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th March 2024, 6:00
Not regardless of results, marko isn’t one who makes decision based on who he likes: if ricciardo was performing at his old best, he’d be more eager to replace perez with him.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th March 2024, 7:17
Or maybe, just maybe, he “became washed” just like that, why try to blame McLaren for that? Last year those few races he looked to still have it, but really I haven’t seen much positive from Daniel so far this year.
I find it pretty much accurate to say that yeah, neither has done a great job so far, but at least Yuki did show some qualifying pace. And when you go for the “oh, it was all the pitstop that ruined his race”, why fail to mention spinning the car all on his own later? I am sure that also affected where he landed. But he never looked like even having the speed or will to try and do something on track earlier either when he had cought up with the group chasing Magnussen. No sign of his “latest of late brakers” to try and get ahead.
Shimks (@shimks)
13th March 2024, 15:48
Either way, Ricciardo is a ghost of his former self. Time to bring in someone from the academy. I would get rid of Tsunoda too – he’s never going to be great.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
13th March 2024, 0:30
The cash visaapp alpha tauri toro rosso line up is one of the least interesting line ups of them all. Both should get the boot. Needs some new faces.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th March 2024, 2:01
It’s unfair to get rid of tsunoda until they can bring in someone who outperforms him, in the last year he beat ricciardo, lawson and de vries, when they find someone who beats him I’d be more on board with replacing him.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
13th March 2024, 3:03
@esploratore1 saying Tsunoda beat Lawson is completely devoid of nuance. Lawson—who had never been in the car prior—absolutely held his own against Tsunoda; and I’m confident Lawson would comfortably beat Tsunoda over a season.
Tost said it takes drivers three seasons to find their groove in F1. Tsunoda has that, Lawson does not.
Tsunoda is fast, but still very hot-headed and makes many mistakes.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th March 2024, 6:02
Yes, I know lawson was new and he was ofc the best out of the 3 of tsunoda’s team mates last year, I would’ve given him the seat this year instead of having tsunoda + ricciardo, but I think it’s also premature to say tsunoda should be replaced as long as no one beats him convincingly.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th March 2024, 6:03
Also about tost, I remember he said it takes 3 seasons, but as you know at red bull they often don’t give them as much, see how long de vries lasted, not long after tost’s comment.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
13th March 2024, 10:01
Tost’s three-season comment was specifically in response to questions over why Tsunoda was given a third season in 2023 despite being generally disappointing. As you point out, it is not a philosophy that has bothered the Red Bull young driver programme very much in general.
Erkr
13th March 2024, 8:30
Yuki was way better than Lawson in F2. Also Yuki consistently outqualified Lawson and encountered plenty of bad luck. An excuse everyone is giving Daniel. Why doesn’t Lawson have an F1 seat? If he was good enough, he’d be driving now wouldn’t he?
Red Andy (@red-andy)
13th March 2024, 9:59
Lawson and Tsunoda didn’t overlap in F2 – Lawson joined the series in 2021, the same season Tsunoda made the step up to F1.
MichaelN
13th March 2024, 15:20
Tost said that after being hounded about why Tsunoda kept his seat (spoiler: it’s Honda) when he wasn’t performing, and especially because Red Bull has a history of dumping drivers with far fewer races (spoiler: but no connection to Honda).
There is no pattern that suggests this specific three year time frame has any merit.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
13th March 2024, 13:44
@esploratore1 yuki’s had 3 seasons – he’s not really improved and his temperament is awful. He was completely smashed by Gasly. Lawson and Ricciardo had more eye catching drives than Tsunoda last season. Enough chances when he didn’t win the F2 title and we have the last 2 champions out of the sport still.
Honda
13th March 2024, 23:03
Not sure what you are talking about. Yuki is now showing his potential and there is clear progression. In his 2nd year it self he was already close to Gasly. Baku he was running P6 and lost big points due to rear wing where Gasly got P5 and 10points. He will probably beat him if they are team mate now. He beat all his team mates in 2023. But anyways we will see how this year goes with Ricciardo. As far as I can tell he has him covered. Lawson pace is comparable to NDV IMO. Japan he finished 0.8secs ahead. But had Yuki not been screwed with the strategy, in clear air he would be 10+secs ahead. In Qatar Lawson was really bad. Yuki was pit stop ahead of him. In qualifying the gap is around 0.2secs. In Qatar it was half a sec and in Singapore Lawson could not beat Yuki Q1 time even though he qualified to Q3 and track improved a lot.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
13th March 2024, 3:36
@justrhysism
quite true but he did have the responsibility of driving Max’s RB in FP1 AD 2022.
Think he was 0.2 off Perez time
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th March 2024, 6:05
Mmm, being 2 tenths off perez at his first fp in that car is not bad, potentially could do a better job than perez with more experience with it.
Nick T.
13th March 2024, 16:48
#1 The only GP where unusual circumstances didn’t come into play during their races together was Japan. Other than that, there were zero races to compare them against each other.
#2 Lawson had one race that was the source of all his hype: Singapore. A GP he would have come in 14th if it weren’t for three highly unlikely factors: 5 drivers who were on pace to finish ahead of him suffered mechanical failures or being punted off from behind + Sainz keeping the entire field running extremely slowly for most of the race.
#3 While Daniel has shown anything impressive in the first two races, most seemed to miss that he had a 41 second stop in Saudi yet with 5 or so laps to go he was within 2 seconds of Tsunoda before a spin on extremely worn tires extended that gap.
#4 Lawson and Sargeant were separated in F2 by one point in the standings. Lawson has the makings of another Tsunoda. A solid midfield driver. The hype is crazy. Thought people had learned their lesson after DeVries.
MichaelN
13th March 2024, 17:29
He also garnered praise for his first race in The Netherlands, pretty much like Bearman he was called in last minute and while he qualified last, he did okay to climb to 13th in the race in what were pretty tricky conditions. He then matched Tsunoda in qualifying in Italy (11th and 12th) and finished 11th. He arguably benefited from Tsunoda retiring on the parade lap, giving him basically no same-car comparison.
Lawson did ‘okay’, but trailing Tsunoda is not a mark of greatness, even if it’s always tough to start midway into the season.
Nick T.
14th March 2024, 9:07
All true.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
13th March 2024, 3:46
With the instability at Red Bull and the risk (no matter how minor) that Max might move on sooner rather than later, I would think it wise to get a future talent into the B team. Irrespective of Ricciardo’s performance, he’s at the back end of his career and he ain’t no Alonso. Get Lawson back with an eye to the future and, in the short term if Max moves on, see if you can snap up Alonso before Mercedes does.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th March 2024, 7:42
In hindsight, Red Bull should’ve chosen Lawson as Tsunoda’s full-time teammate for this season, & even next season isn’t a foregone conclusion or given in all circumstances, as he doesn’t do active racing this year while Iwasa, another viable option, does, so even though Lawson is the primary options for the time being, this could change further into this year, if the latter performs well in SF, so at worst-case scenario, Lawson could be at risk of getting overlooked again.
Maisch (@maisch)
13th March 2024, 9:24
I mean he havent done anything impressive in many years, I didnt exactly expect him to set the world on fire at RBAT. Even though i like Ric i think the seat would be better used to try some new talent, especially as so many of them never get the chance to try nowdays.
HAL
13th March 2024, 10:12
F1 ´s audience dropping in the US…. I’m sure Max dominance is a big factor. But maybe they will wish a certain Andretti team would come on the grid in ´25 at some point.
I’m sure the teams are all happy they will win a few millions thanks to the teal counts remaining at 10. And they could loose much much more thanks to US fans turning their back because they don’t have anyone to support.
It will be well deserved…
CarWars (@maxv)
13th March 2024, 10:40
They will turn on the sprinklers and reverse grids soon
MichaelN
13th March 2024, 11:23
Why is Marko commenting on this, wasn’t this supposed to be an independent team?
Osnola
13th March 2024, 12:31
It is, as a team. The management of the drivers is centralised.
Mayrton
13th March 2024, 11:33
I see the fantasy world continues in The Sun.
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
13th March 2024, 16:52
That’s what they’ll call the F1 special that summarizes the 2022-2025 seasons: “Pretty Straightforward”.
Mog
13th March 2024, 19:37
The man Marko talks, and the world listens. Its interesting how he used this to undermine Horner via Verstappen recently.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
13th March 2024, 20:27
Even if the half of the 40‰ drop off in viewing figures can be explained by moving from Sunday on ESPN to Saturday on ESPN 2( and that’s highly unlikely but let’s be generous), 20% of viewers abandoning Formula 1 in just 1 year it’s pretty dramatic. If this was a TV show the producers would be sitting at CEO office listening to his shouting at them and issuing final warnings before cancelation. Liberty’s probably are hearing the same screams from their shareholders. So they will have to act=clip Red Bulls wings for 2025.
Honda
13th March 2024, 21:12
Ricciardo is going to find out what NDV did last year. But he will also have some good races. Right now it does not matter as RB were not good enough for points. I do not get the Lawson hype, he definitely did better than expectations. But there was a reason why they did not take him in 2023 and he was not their first choice replacement as well for NDV who was IMO unfairly dropped. Lawson is slower than Ricciardo and Yuki is faster than both. But anything is possible I guess and driver market will be wide open in 2025.
Todfod (@todfod)
14th March 2024, 3:57
I’m not a fan of Horner.. But he’s right to put the Verstappen camp in place. He is the team boss and he along with Newey have been instrumental in making Red bull the force they are now. Horner won championships before Verstappen and he’ll continue to do so after Verstappen as well. For Horner, the person who’s loyalty matters the most is Neweys.
I’m surprised that Jos is the person fueling this fued. I mean..surely Jos cannot have an issue with Horner’s behaviour towards a female employee, given that Jos is Mr.domestic abuse and a woman walloper himself.
Sergey Martyn
16th March 2024, 14:08
Ricciardo’s career has just ended…