Ricciardo Races To The Top
Of F1's most wanted list
This means that multiple World Champions Lewis Hamilton
(AMG Mercedes) and Sebastian Vettel (Scuderia Ferrari), will
remain the undisputed number one driver in each team. Add
to this Ricciardo’s current team, Red Bull Racing. While he has
seniority over his younger Dutch team mate Max Verstappen,
there are concerns that the team is constantly leaning in favour
of Verstappen, as this same team clearly did when the more
experienced Australian Mark Webber was paired with the
young Sebastian Vettel in years prior.
The team’s pendulum totally swung in favour of the German,
despite him being a rookie driver and at the expense of
Webber’s world title aspirations. Things like being the first to
receive engine and aerodynamic design upgrades, having to
yield position in favour of Vettel on the track and Vettel even
having crashed into his team mate with the team issuing no
disciplinary action whatsoever.
Should Ricciardo select Scuderia Ferrari, this would be a
truly amazing sporting combination given his family’s Italian
heritage. Decades have passed since anyone even remotely
Italian won a Grand Prix, let alone a Formula One World
Championship in a Ferrari Formula One car – the pride of Italy.
As romantic as this all sounds, sadly there are problems here
too.
Ricciardo raced with and beat Sebastian Vettel several
times during their season together at Red Bull Racing. So
performance is not the issue, but there is no doubt that the
four time World Champion has strict stipulations in his contract
relating to his status as the undisputed number one driver.
This brings with it several major advantages that directly
disadvantage the team’s second driver’s chances of World
Championship success.
Having stated the darker sides of Ricciardo joining either
one of these two super teams, there are some outstanding
advantages to both. A salary that many F1 pundits estimate to
be in the vicinity of $US25 million or more, not including the
personal sponsorships and endorsements that will inevitably
flow in. Whichever way he turns, his remuneration will be
extraordinary.
Another advantage is that instead of being able to win the odd
race here and there when his current Renault engine and Red
Bull Racing electronic systems hold together long enough,
with either AMG Mercedes or Scuderia Ferrari, Ricciardo will be
winning races and standing on the podium very often. Just as
current AMG Mercedes number two driver, Valtteri Bottas has
been able to achieve in both 2017 and 2018.
Red Bull Racing will have a difficult time enticing the gregarious
Ricciardo to stay for 2019 and beyond. While the non-
corporatised environment of this far “cooler” team than the
older established operations has allowed Ricciardo to flourish
as a Formula One driver and as an athlete, it has also caused
several major disappointments for the Australian. These
particularly relate to vehicle reliability coupled with the team’s
seemingly constant habit of providing more support for their
European drivers.
Time will tell where this superb Australian racing driver ends up
in 2019 and beyond. My tip is Scuderia Ferrari, if not for the fact
that he brings some much needed vitality, excitement and a
second generation Italian link to Italy’s and one of the world’s
most famous brands. Oh and he has beaten Vettel before, so
he can beat him again - provided that he is allowed to!
CAPRICORN IGNITION JUNE 2018 13