Team mates head-to-head: Ricciardo vs Tsunoda

Ricciardo finally starts showing form against Tsunoda – but too late to replace Perez

2024 F1 team mates head-to-head

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Part three of our F1 team mate head-to-heads series looks at how the RB drivers measure up against each other so far.

Red Bull’s decision to keep the under-performing in Sergio Perez their line-up has to be seen partly as a judgement on the performance of the two drivers in their second team.

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Had either Yuki Tsunoda or Ricciardo consistently beaten the other, would Red Bull have considered giving them a chance in Perez’s car?

The possibility Ricciardo might return to Red Bull was clearly a factor in their decision to hire him after his early exit from McLaren at the end of 2022, then eject Liam Lawson from RB mid-season last year to make way for him. But only now, 12 months on, is he showing signs of becoming the team’s leading driver.

Over the opening races of the season it was all about Tsunoda. Before RB took a wrong turn with their car development, spearheading their runs into the lower reaches of the points positions, doing so five times over the first eight rounds.

This was the kind of performance Tsunoda needed to start showing in his fourth season of F1. But any hopes he might get to replace Perez for 2025 was dashed when Red Bull extended his contract two months ago.

Yuki Tsunoda, RB, Melbourne, 2024
Seventh in Melbourne was among Tsunoda’s highlights
Following speculation Red Bull could activate an early exit clause in Perez’s contract and replace him during the summer break, the team again confirmed he will remain in the car. But by the stage the winds had shifted at RB.

Ricciardo’s radio messages at times sound like a near-constant stream of pointers, advice and recommendations from race engineer Pierre Hamelin. They appear to be having the desired effect, as his performances compared to Tsunoda have clearly improved over the last half-dozen races.

Rightly or wrongly, Red Bull give the impression of not being fully convinced by Tsunoda, while prepared to wait and see if Ricciardo will unlock the key to regularly repeating the kind of form he produced in the Miami sprint race this year or Mexican Grand Prix last year. That sense that the peaks of the RB are higher than either driver are regularly hitting is perhaps why both are going nowhere for the time being.

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Ricciardo vs Tsunoda: Season summary

Ricciardo vs Tsunoda: Race-by-race

BAH SAU AUS JAP CHI MIA EMI MON CAN SPA AUT GBR HUN BEL
Ricciardo Q
R

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Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Negative value: Ricciardo was faster; Positive value: Tsunoda was faster

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “Ricciardo finally starts showing form against Tsunoda – but too late to replace Perez”

  1. notagrumpyfan
    1st August 2024, 12:29

    then eject Liam Lawson from RB mid-season last year to make way for him

    *De Vries

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    Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    1st August 2024, 13:35

    I’d say ricciardo is starting to outperform Tsunoda.

    1. Coventry Climax
      1st August 2024, 18:38

      Which is what we might expect from such a talented rookie in his first year.
      (Slapping my knees as I write this.)

      1. Profile Photo

        Esploratore (@esploratore1)
        1st August 2024, 23:54

        It’s at least what we expected from ricciardo, and about the article’s title, I don’t know if it’s too late: if a driver is performing as badly as perez, it’s like he’s on a race-by-race contract, no matter his extension.

      2. Ross
        2nd August 2024, 10:52

        Super funny. McLaren coached him into oblivion, plenty of the other drivers on the circuit wouldn’t have been able to come back from it. He’s taken less than half a season to get in front of a driver that’s been there for 4 years. As a Dan fan I was expecting more from him but it was probably a lot to ask.

      3. Nick T.
        2nd August 2024, 11:26

        Yuki is basically a veteran now, but people keep appraising Daniel as if he’s racing next to a rookie.

  3. Asd
    1st August 2024, 15:07

    What has been shown in recent years about Ricciardo is that he requires a very particular car characteristic in order to be fast. Anything else and he struggles and is slow.

    So, if I was RedBull, I wouldn’t want to risk a situation where their car simple doesn’t suit Ricciardo and he is slower than Perez without any one-off good performances even possible.

    1. Profile Photo

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      1st August 2024, 23:56

      The solution would be very simple: give ricciardo a couple of races, if he’s not better than perez, out, there’s no need to commit to a full season, especially when you deal with very risky driver choices.

    2. Nick T.
      2nd August 2024, 11:28

      I doubt it has anything to do with Daniel, especially considering he likes the Max setup. According to some sources, after Belgium Daniel had been told he was getting promoted:

      F1 Insider, close to Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, reveals today that the Winged Bull had initially made the decision to end his collaboration with Sergio Pérez after the Belgian Grand Prix. The decision had even already been announced to the Verstappen clan as well as to Daniel Ricciardo, who should have been promoted alongside Max Verstappen upon returning from the summer break. However, a call from Stefano Domenicali himself led to a sudden and unexpected change of heart. The Formula 1 boss, under pressure from Liberty Media, has asked Red Bull to “reconsider” the dismissal of Sergio Pérez, with the Mexican Grand Prix fast approaching. Liberty Media, the commercial rights holder for the Formula 1 world championship, feared that “without local hero Sergio Pérez, an extreme drop in revenues at the Mexican Grand Prix scheduled for October 27 would be felt.” Under pressure, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko finally gave in.

      1. Lee
        2nd August 2024, 13:13

        Daniel does like the same setup as Max, stable front loose rear. I think Daniel would also be happy to settle for No. 2 driver to help the team get the constructors. Bottom line is Daniel would score more points than Sergio in that seat. Red Bull know next year is going to require 2 drivers pulling in points, the other teams have converged.

        1. Nick T.
          4th August 2024, 0:17

          Yes, Daniel would just be happy to be able to show that he still has it. There are what, like four races after Mexico City? Maybe we’ll see Daniel then. That, or if Checo starts off the next round with a disaster, he’ll be immediately replaced.

  4. An Sionnach
    1st August 2024, 15:13

    Nobody can work Ricciardo out, not even himself. I was hugely impressed with the Mexico and Miami performances. I’m not sure if Yuki could ever manage something like this. Once a year won’t do it for Ricciardo, though.

    1. bonbonjai
      1st August 2024, 16:31

      That though I suspect is Red Bulls problem with him replacing Perez. An upturn in form is possible however what if it doesn’t and may indeed bring new issues they can’t deal with especially at the business end of the season. With Perez by contrast what Red Bull are looking for is consistency to support Max where possible and score point towards the constructors title.

    2. Profile Photo

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      1st August 2024, 23:58

      He should be good again in mexico and monza, which are coming soon, but might not be enough even then, 3-4 good races a year was the level raikkonen and vettel were at before leaving ferrari.

      1. An Sionnach
        2nd August 2024, 0:10

        Are there any good development drivers any more? Piquet, Prost, Schumacher, maybe not of that level, but is that something a team might consider? If so, do we know roughly who they are? Max might be like Schumacher at Benetton in that he seems to be able to drive a car that rejects other drivers. I’m not sure if that makes him good, though. You see that when he gets a car he can’t drive and has to explain to the designers what’s wrong.

        1. Janith
          2nd August 2024, 14:35

          I think drivers have very little to do with what the cars designers design. They can help improve the car through the season but not much other than that.

          1. Nick T.
            4th August 2024, 0:19

            Yup, the days of drivers being an integral aspect of car development let alone design are long over.

  5. Honda
    1st August 2024, 17:24

    Bahrain it was team order. Yuki was ahead there as well and honestly in Montreal race he had brake issues. Spain race, he had damaged floor which was later confirmed by the team. I would say only in China and SPA Yuki was very slow for some reason. Definitely Ricciardo has improved his performance in last 6 races but I do not think he can beat him in second half either.

  6. Mayrton
    2nd August 2024, 8:08

    Both drivers need to go. They have already shown and performed at their best level. Which is adequate but no more than that. Not sure the pinnacle of motorsport is the place for that. One of F1 bigger problems is the overall level of the drivers. FIA needs to work out a system in which demoting and promoting flows more naturally from results achieved in F1, F2 and F3 etc. FIA academy might be a good idea but I think it is time to step it up a notch and include men in the academy and get this demoting/promoting system in place. Will never happen, especially given Liberty’s stake in the ‘sport’, but it is a nice thought from a sports fan perspective.

    1. Janith
      2nd August 2024, 14:33

      For this system to work all cars need to be the same spec. Otherwise no point.

      1. Mayrton
        3rd August 2024, 10:53

        I agree there are lots of challenges to be faced but moreover complete unwillingness from parties involved to let this evolve into anything other than an entertainment circus. They don’t care about fair sports, not even about creating an illusion of it.

Comments are closed.