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@nitrodaze really? I suspect this rumor came to be, after Lewis’ father went to Maranello. Frankly, I have no idea what he did there, but it’s hard to believe, that Lewis would send his father to do the talking, when he has some high profile managers in Fuller and Shine.
Best Driver: Hamilton
Worst Driver: nobody stood out today
Best Team: Lotus (1 point less than Red Bull, but would’ve been impressive without Grosjean penalties)
Worst Team: Force India (total disappointment even before their defects)
Best Overtake: Grosjean on Massa
Funniest moment:
Most Surprising Result: Marussia so far behind Caterham
Least Surprising Result: Räikkönen on the podium
Special Mention to: Räikkönen, Webber
Race Rating: 6/10@andae23 I think, that drivers should be able to overtake outside of track limits, BUT only where they are allowed to leave the track entirely.
The corner where Grosjean got Massa is a place, where drivers got wide regularly and left the track with all four tyres, yet they didn’t get reprimanded or penalized for their actions. Should Grosjean get a penalty for doing the same, only because he gained a place?
Adrian Sutil has a long way to go, until he can match the 183 starts without a win from his fellow German Nick Heidfeld. The latter hasn’t been away from the sport that long and drove all available races in his Formula 1 career, except for some he missed in 2005 due to injury and his final season (2011), where he was replaced by Senna.
The record-holder for most races before scoring the first point(s) go to Nicola Larini, by the way. He drove four full seasons between 1988 and 1991 for slower teams and gained his first points in 1994. The curious thing about it was, that he hadn’t had a seat in a F1 cockpit for a full season. He replaced Alesi in his Ferrari and came second only to Michael Schumacher.
Whoever the best driver for Red Bull would be, depends in my opinion on their future car speed in relation to the other teams. But does Red Bull want the best driver or the best _fitting_ driver next to Vettel? That’s a question nobody of us can answer.
Will RB still have one of the fastest cars? Maybe Ricciardo would be the better choice, IF Vettel can manage to get enough points for the constructor’s championship by himself. It would be a shame for Red Bull, if a team like Mercedes was even stronger next year. With Hamilton and Rosberg, they have two strong drivers, who could take at least one championship from RB. Slight advantage to Ricciardo, but with some risk.
What if RB loses the top spot next year? In that case, Räikkönen would be the best team-mate next to Vettel! First off, if the championship is off the cards, it won’t matter if Kimi will gain more points than Vettel or not. Secondly, the Fin’s good race craft and his constant finishing in the points make him an attractive choice to, for example, place the team in second place instead of third or third instead of fourth. Definite advantage Räikkönen.
Will other things play a role? Räikkönen will definitely earn more than the Australian Ricciardo, but it’s only natural to pay a world champion more than a young driver, who gets the chance of his life to drive in the one team, which has won so much in the past few years. Then again, according to news articles Räikkönen has a guaranteed salary of 3 million Euro with Lotus this year, but the contract is laden with performance incentives. I don’t see an advantage for any driver in this.
Daniel Ricciardo is no Vettel. In my opinion, he hasn’t shown extraordinary performances in his career at Toro Rosso and he hasn’t been the most consistent driver. Why should Red Bull choose him, when they could take Räikkönen for two or three years and then look to the next generation of young drivers out of their own program?
In the end, Ricciardo’s slightly higher experience (and arguably equal performance to Vergne) shouldn’t be reason enough to have him drive a RB.
