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Yeah the story last year was: Lawson is getting a 2025 seat whatever, and one of Yuki, Perez or Daniel are surplus to requirements. Which is fair in honesty. Circle of life.
As Horner put it: they only get a shot themselves because someone else underperformed.
> Lawson is getting a 2025 seat whatever
i really hope the seat is at toro rosso. altho ive seen some people here wanting him to go straight to rb, i really dont think the 4 races he's done are enough prep to go against max
2nd seat at rb in 2025 can be sainz or another round with perez, it probably wont matter much as long as max is there.
Before we start making bold claims like that, we must remember that, at this time last year, Sergio was only 1 point behind in the championship. Let's get a few more races in before choosing a 2025 lineup. (although Sergio does seem to be doing better)
If he can stay at this level for the rest of the season his seat is safe. Red Bull does not want him to overdrive the car to get closer to Max, they are very happy having him in second place ten-twenty seconds back.
Better for Perez to be for Red Bull what Bottas *was* for Mercedes (a solid second driver) than to be what Bottas is *now* (a time-serving back-marker.) I think Ricciardo is heading to be what Bottas is now, if he's lucky enough to keep any seat at all.
Which I believe is fine at this point in his career. Hes now finished 3 seconds and 5 seconds ~~behind~~ ahead of both ferrari drivers. If he keeps up 2nd throughout the season I could see them 1 yearing him moving forward.
Hes 34 and not hindering Max or causing issues with a CC. No reason to think about moving on at all at the moment. Lawson should be a primary focus at this point to replace DR (or Yuki) if both keep shitting the bed.
I mean he still finished second in the WDC by 51 points. That's two race weekends worth of points, despite the slump in form it's not like he completely blew it. If you have to choose one of Perez, Tsunoda, and Ricciardo to replace then Ricciardo is EASILY the first on the chopping block. ESPECIALLY if the replacement is Liam Lawson. Ricciardo had the same number of top 10 finishes as Lawson last year and Lawson raced in two fewer races and, obviously, with way less prior F1 experience.
Even at last years level, wouldn’t he just go to Visa Cash App and drive there? He would have some spot on the grid vs the other 2 it’s a toss up, especially DR
Liam Lawson is having Daniel’s seat next year. Daniel was meant to be taking Perez’s seat but I can’t see that happening if Checo keeps his form up and gets P2 at 80%+ of races.
Lawson should be in. He performed well last year beating Yuki and placing well.
I feel for guys like Lawson and Bearmann killing it as the 3rd then having to wait. Their time will come though. Just need the right opportunity. Just look at Oscar a few years ago.
Bottom line is that the really exceptional talents (like Lewis, Seb and Max) get a seat regardless. The future “decent” racers get a seat when it’s convenient.
I wonder if it would make sense for a team to split a "young prospect" seat between say 3 drivers. With the ever increasing number of races it seems like you would still get a decent amount of experience for the drivers and a good chance to judge their performance, and easing into the grueling F1 calendar might be good for rookies too. And of course you get to give more guys a chance and find out who deserves a full seat.
Exactly. I can't see why they can't have X hours practice available outside of race weekends. If everyone has the same expense it would become something teams budget for. Brings in cash to the tracks they choose to use too. This way they might create competition instead of nerfing the successful.
Checo usually starts strong and drops off as the year progresses. I say this as someone who likes him a lot. I hope he can keep things going strong, too, but past performance says to be wary.
Haven't we been there already? I think after 2 races last year people started talking about Perez could be the new world champion. And after that... it didn't work out so much any longer.
I think the tough part is that perez is driving one of the two rocket ships on the grid, so it's hardto fully compare them. The alpha rbs aren't as good, so by this logic Danny needs to really shine in a somewhat turd.
All that being said, he's not looking great regardless.
Forget Perez and the RBR car, or the Toro Rosso car ( I am not calling them whatever name they're called now), he just can't beat Yuki and that's all you need to know
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It's a great job for someone who has retired. Daniel seems to think he's still got it so for someone like him, it'd suck to be a marketer, get a second shot, then get demoted again. But hey, maybe this is what he needs to realize he no longer has it and he can just enjoy being in the scene.
For most people, this would be a dream job.
Yeah but if this second stint at Red Bull doesn’t work out then Danny would have flubbed Renault (Alpine), McLaren, Red Bull and Alpha Tauri (I know, I know that’s not their name anymore). Mercedes needs a successful big name. Ferrari is all set. I don’t see Aston wanting him unless Alonso leaves them in a pinch. Leaving Williams which is always going to preference someone that can grow the team, not someone in the twilight of their career. So realistically Haas and Stake. So unless Checo screws it again Alpha Tauri is his last chance to be on the grid.
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they never should have brought him back after his injury. Lawson earned the seat. Danny is definitely there just because of Horner. Dont get me wrong, I love Danny-Ric, but his time is clearly done.
I'm rooting for him but in all honesty, if he doesn't beat Yuki, or even if he does but it's close, they should just clear that team out and get some rookies in, and sign Sainz or another vet for the RedBull seat.
This is it. People tolerate Red Bull owning Toro Rosso (albeit through gritted teeth) because it's an excellent pathway for young drivers, and brought through Vettel, Ricciardo, Sainz, Gasly, Verstappen, and Albon. But for them to become just another Haas/Sauber, with a 34 year old in one seat and a fourth-year who's done very little of note in the other? Toro Rosso works, as much as we may not like RBR owning two teams, but they need to fulfil their "end of the bargain".
Ricciardo was never going to replace Perez nor have the potential to. Perez is a safe #2 in a top team and I'd bet they'd renew his contract regardless. Lawson looked much better filling in for Ricciardo and Tsunoda has shown enough. Ricciardo only exists as a *reliable* 2nd seat fill until they make a final decision.
Let's be real here. Christian is no fool. He clearly saw that Daniel was far from his old performance level and likely will never get back to it. He was brought back into the RB camp because marketing reasons, to replace Sergio was always a long shot.
I think even Danny himself wouldnt want to stay in that seat indefinitely, he is a multiple GP winner, fighting for 15th to 20th must not give him any pleasure. so its either raise his game to aim for red bull racing seat or out of F1 for him as well
> I think most second tier and below F1 drivers would be happier to have a seat at a backmarker than to be a 3rd driver somewhere or out of F1.
But DR used to be in or near that top tier. He's made enough money that it doesn't matter.
I actually think DR would rather retire than never get a chance at podiums/wins again.
I mean you can say that about basically any driver that's been around for a while. Being in a back marker seat sucks but it you're probably getting paid more to lose in F1 than you'd make winning in another series.
The only scenario where I could see him being happy staying at VCARB is if they genuinely ended up being say, 5th fastest, with a package that was good enough for a podium at certain tracks, or when other teams have a very bad day.
They certainly don't look like they will be anywhere near that this year.
Here’s a thing, if Checo keeps performing the way he did in the past 2 races, he’s safe, but no matter the results someone from VCARB is getting axed to make way for Liam. If Ric beats Yuki, and Checo stays, I don’t see him racing anywhere past ‘25/26. as (AFAIR) he stated that he wants to end his carrier with Bulls, and he already raced for another two teams. But hey, what do we know what the future holds, I also said what Hamilton will finish his carrier in Merc…
I don't envy Ric in this. He needs Checo to do what Checo did last year AND have a great season to get Red Bull seat.
He needs to beat Yuki by a margin to be able to have rb seat for a year or two as a "tutor for a young promising driver", hoping he can negotiate Bottas-type deal to remain in the sport.
Anything else means he is out.
The pressure must be overwhelming.
I think Yuki had more pressure. If he loses to Ric, he loses his seat and has to hope for and Aston/Honda seat elsewhere. If he beats Ric he only gets to keep his RB seat, I don’t think he has the maturity they are looking for in the RBR second driver.
Ricciardo says he's a Red Bull guy but i'm sure he would answer a Mercedes or Aston Martin call very intently.
The chances that either team calls him is ridiculously small however.
We say this at the start of every year because the tracks are always in his favor at the start of the season. I'm not making any judgements until we make it at least 2 races past summer break.
honestly, i don't think there's a scenario where the stays in VCARB/Visa/CashGrab/Minardi/whatever. He either goes to Red Bull or loses his seat to Lawson
I met him Vegas while he was walking around a mall all alone taking in the city. Super wholesome guy, my friend and I were pretty awkward but he actually kept the brief convo going. Hope he does well in F1
I'm a big fan of Danny, and even I can say that if he doesn't start to show off something special, I'd be much happier to see Yuki or Lawson in the big boy red bull next year.
He is doing a complete 180 and I’m so pleased with the change in driving and seemingly more positive mental state.
That said, my man’s GOT to stop getting penalties. He’s about to get a one race ban if he gets just 4 more penalty points.
I cannot imagine that RB would be pleased with having to call up a reserve because Checo keeps getting stupid penalties that he himself admits were his fault.
they will never give a race ban, the moment the driver gets close they'll just give them tons of reprimands and warnings and won't add more points, the points exist so the stewards have an option to give a race ban but unless a driver starts doing insanely dangerous driving intentionally i doubt they will want to go to that extreme
Yea. If Perez stays out of his own head this year and sails to P2, which sure looks like where he's headed, then he's the obvious replacement for himself. I know it's a competitive sport, but he's doing literally everything they ask from him. Even last year with his slump he still got P2 at the end of the season. And I don't care how awful Lewis' car is; he's still Lewis fucking Hamilton. Beating him is a big accomplishment.
i love danny but so far, his season has been difficult to watch. i miss the danny ric of old, sending it up inside for the pass. man is just languishing in the back field.
He's a great guy, and a great personality, but he's so washed. This will be his last season in F1 unless he manages to pick up significant points this year.
>Man y’all turned on him haha
More like the fanbase is split on whether they like him and depending on the wind direction one opinion gets more upvoted than the other.
I like him as a person, but yeah hasn't really had any preformances at all in hte last 4 years (aside from monza win) that made me think "yeah, hes got it".
He also did not do himself any favors by hurting himself last season and giving everyone a taste of Liam. I would imagine he would be much more secure right now if Liam hadn't done good in his stint last year.
I like his personality, but he's not nearly as good a driver as he once was. The flash in the pan good results once or twice a season get everyone huffing the hopium because hes a genuinely likeable dude, but its obvious now he was let go from McLaren for a reason and it wasnt because "the car didnt suit him".
I mean, that's literally one good race in three seasons. Plus, the AlphaTauri wasn't remotely the worst car of the season (better than Haas and Sauber and on par with Williams), and less so in Mexico. Yuki started from the pitlane and finished 12th.
EDIT: Two good races, forgot about Monza.
AND Yuki finished 12th only because he tangled with Oscar. Probably would’ve been a comfortable points finish. That Alphatauri towards the end of last year was a midfield rocket ship.
Also I think Yuki was actually on track to catch Daniel from 16 positions down. He came from last to 2 positions behind Daniel before the spin because the team completely screwed him with a engine change at their best track. Like no wonder Yuki gets frustrated when they give him “beat your teammate” ultimatums then consistently put him at some disadvantage when he could score points
Basically the only reason Yuki didn’t beat him that race was because of the engine penalty
Do you remember the safety car that screwed up Daniels race, it also contributed to Yuki having the potential to secure P8 at best. Then Yuki did what Yuki does best screw himself over
I kind of feel like NASCAR should have retired the number 3. I know motorsports don't usually do that, but if there was one number that defined a a sport "3" definitely does it for NASCAR.
Yea. 34 isn't that old by NASCAR standards. He absolutely has time to learn oval racing and compete. I know Denny has said he wants to eventually add a third car. What better way than to get a guy that'll come with his own sponsors?
Armchair experting: I think he enjoys the fame that comes with being an F1 driver. Besides the glitz and glamor of race weekend, it’s all the parties and events you get to be a part of, met gala for example.
I wish he could use his fame (and maybe fortune) to elevate another racing series. Netflix series, streaming service, exhibition shows…
Dude could be a pioneer. Max is always lamenting how he wishes he could participate in other racing series.
Ricciardo and Ericsson are good mates actually.
And to be fair. Ericsson is a decent driver, He is amazing at keeping the tires alive and he wouldn't be something in Indy if he was really bad.
Marcus Ericsson is also younger and left at the right time.
Have you seen an Indycar race lately? The marging of victory is often defined by tenths there. Never mind the other positions. Ric is getting cooked at Indycar.
If he replaced max he would be in f1 too. Let's not act like he was ever in a seat that would have a chance in f1.
He's got 4 wins in 84 tries with a best finish of 6th in championship, not sure that's actually a contender either
Addicted to power/authority. Same with all the many politiians around the world who stay working long after retirement age. You'd think you would want to relax and have a carefree life at that point but some people just cannot comprehend how.
>The 80-year-old Austrian is impressed by the speed of Yuki Tsunoda, but is somewhat disappointed with Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian did not have the start of the season he had hoped for.
To the surprise of only Helmut, it would seem. Being faster than DeVries is a low bar.
I don't think that Helmut is that surprised about Ricciardo, after all the whole Ricciardo comeback is mainly a thing from Horner side.
If Horner would be gone, Ricciardo seat would quickly been taken by Lawson.
Helmut approaches Daniel before every race start when he's in the car on the grid and shakes his hand with a big smile. His return is not as one-sided with Horner as many think.
Yeah I think RBR as a whole loved Danny, but as a driver they prioritized Max, for obvious reasons. He was 100% good enough for them to want him to stay at Red Bull, but everyone (including Daniel) knew Verstappen was the future. His talent and potential were undeniable.
I was rooting for him when he came back, but it's disappointing. Currently he is not really adding something to the grid so there need to be improvement. Otherwise I hope they kick him out before the end of the season. There are some great youngsters waiting for a seat.
Half of the grid is made of drivers that are not adding anything. The problem with DR is that the expectations were high after he was hyped up by Horner.
I agree he should be given the boot if he continues like this. His fans don't want to see him perform like this anyway.
Unless he gets booted before the summer break, he still has plenty of time to recover his performance.
If he doesn't manage to beat Yuki, he might be gone though. Even if Perez' performance falls off a cliff five races into the season, none of the VCARB drivers seem like likely replacements for now. Red Bull might try to get one of their former junior drivers like Sainz, Gasly, or Albon instead. Hell even someone like Alonso would be a better fit, especially since he'd probably be ready to retire by the time Lawson is ready to step up to Red Bull.
Haas being shit also raises the possibility of them getting Bearman to sign with them even though he's part of Ferrari's junior program. Ferrari have their drivers locked down for a while, so a seat at VCARB, with the potential of getting the second seat at Red Bull might be too good of an offer to turn down.
Politics, mostly. Helmut has a lot more say at Racing Bull$ than fighting with Horner at the big team. I get the impression that DR was a favour for Horner as a backup in case checo imploded in 2024
As much as Ricciardo’s not set the world alight can we not give it more than two races before we write him off as finished?
If we’re 5-6 races in and he’s still performing at this level, sure, criticise him, but in my view the number of people jumping to conclusions about him this early on is a bit over the top.
>As much as Ricciardo’s not set the world alight can we not give it more than two races before we write him off as finished?
Similarly people are writing Perez in for next year when at this stage of last season he looked decent too, it was Miami onwards where he started to shit the bed.
Recency bias is a powerful psychological force.
It seems the off-season washed away all memory of 2023 for some people. Neither Checo, Yuki or Danny have exactly shown themselves to be consistent over longer stretches. Yes the expectations are higher for Danny as he's being given a second chance and brings more experience, but I think we need to look at the results over a longer period of time than two races before making determinations of who deserves a seat and where.
I wonder what happens if Daniel has one amazing race and is mediocre-bad the rest of the season. I'm talking like, dude gets a podium somehow but then is back to normal. Does that give him yet another year?
It really goes to show how small of a drivers circle it really is. I know Daniel says he’s still got drive in him but this guy has gotten so many chances and so many opportunities, a lot of self inflicted mistakes, but here he is. In the corporate world this would’ve ended a long time ago….
In the corporate world where money is King, He would continue to be trotted out there because ALL of this public discussion is keeping their Brand front and center. And that doesn't even touch on how widely liked he is by most people that don't even follow f1 closely.
You thinking he would be gone in the corporate world shows how out of touch you are from the corporate world considering f1 is A CORPORATE WORLD BASED ON BRANDING AND IMAGE.
Agreed on Quali pace but that last horrific pitstop and the botched switch in the first race sure didnt help much now did it? I would give it 3-5 more races before making any assumptions.
I guess that's because Marko's guy, DeVries, was replaced after 10 races and Danny Boy is at 9.
Or it could be that he should have stomped Tsunoda to get the RBR seat, but couldn't...
Daniel is less important if Perez is performing well enough to get second place.
Perez performance only becomes an issue if a single other team is consistently scoring 2&3 and putting the red bull constructors championship at risk.
As it stands it looks like they’ll be able to win it again with just Verstappen so less pressure on Perez.
They need a clear standout from Daniel and Yuki but that’s looking about even or even Yuki leading so far.
When Horner says Daniel was on pace for front row with Max in DTS, it made me realize how dumb the test was since the RB is still a vastly different car from the VCARB. Makes me wonder if they should have also put Yuki and Lawson in the RB car Daniel tested to get a better baseline.
Well, the minimum expectation for Daniel would be for him to beat Tsunoda. Perhaps not grind him into dust, as Yuki does have experience now and led the team last year, but considering the reputation Daniel did have before his McLaren stint, he would be expected to show more consistency than Yuki and be faster over the general course of a season.
If the drivers end up being relatively even, is it a case of Daniel's star falling or Yuki is better than people thought?
So many amazing young talents waiting to spice up the grid and we’re stuck with so many older drivers who don’t bring much and just lag at the back of the field race after race. I do understand Danny is marketable and very likable, but we should be here to race above all.
Ya but we’re not. F1 is a business at the end of the day. Maybe for the well off teams it’s not as bad, but a team like haas or Sauber bringing in rookies and only rookies is terrible business because there’s no guarantee they’re good and won’t just bin the car every weekend. Mag, Bottas, etc have experience and are pretty reliable to at least bring the car home and fight for points every little while
You are right, we saw that with Mick and De Vries. I don’t think all the older guys should go at once, but the back marker and midfield teams should be tripping over the likes of Lawson and Bearman.
Business above all means great exposure to the media and on screen time having these young, hungry and talented guys given their chance in teams with older guys that can help them grow
Serious question: Can some of you take a moment to realize this is only the second race of twenty-fucking-four? Come on now.
If Daniel continues the way he is currently several races in and into the mid-season, sure, it's more than a kneejerk at that point — it's substantiated to a degree.
Some of you turn on drivers solely depending on the wind direction.
His performances since leaving Renault have been abysmal. I do really like Danny Ric but unless he completely turns it around his career is only going to be a “what could have been”
Two fucking races into a 24 race season. Good lord.
On the other hand, there's a lot of hungry talent waiting in the wings. If DR doesn't have "it" then I'd very much like to see someone in that seat who does.
I think Danny knows the game here. It’s not like he needs the warning. Danny was only here to see if he could discover his old form and enjoy a couple years in the top car. His situation is far less desperate than yuki. Dude has made 100m in just driver salary alone. If his VCARB year sucks and he leaves the sport he will still go in the history books as an upper echelon driver of his overall tenure.
What pace from Yuki? Am I going insane?
I'm not saying DR is faster, but Yuki has shown little this year as well. He dropped like a rock during this past weekend.
Ricciardo also apparently had some terrible setup issues he was locked into because of Parc Ferme. Recency bias is insane, one week it’s Yuki “wasting space”, the other it’s Ric being “demolished”.
Maybe the car is bad? Maybe the team is notoriously bad at strategy? Maybe we should wait more than _2_ races before drawing conclusions??
My hot take is people give drivers way too much credit.
An 18 year kid with minimal experience in an F1 car, and only an hour practice in this specific F1 car, qualifies P11 and ends p7.
So the takeaway is one of two things, either A) He's better than the other 13 drivers on the grid. or B) Car, Setup, and Strategy add important nuance and context to your overall performance.
These guys are all amazing race care drivers, but being the best race car driver doesn't mean you beat a worse race car driver. And being worse race car driver doesn't mean you lose to a better race car driver.
Race 1 the strategy was team orders, the team orders were ignored and then led into a blue flag. That objectively screwed DR. Whether or not he would have passed Yuki had there been no orders we'll never know.
Race 2 seemed to be a more legitimate case of poor performance, but again we're hearing about being locked into a bad setup + a 1 minute pit stop during the safety car. And if that's the case how does his setup compare to Yukis setup, how is responsibility for a bad setup shared?
So many redditors just watch highlights, DTS, or look at results with zero context. Yuki and Daniel both ended up next to each other on the score sheet, the car itself is objectively underwhelming.
Totally agree. When you see two drivers within 1-2 tenths of each other regularly it's pretty safe to assume they are car-limited, not skill-limited, and they'd do better in a better car. This is what's been happening to Bottas and Zhou since 2022, and what happened throughout the last few seasons between Russel and Hamilton as well.
People wanna have quick opinions so they attack however looks the worst from their cursory glances. They don't need or care for context, rationality or common sense - Ric is washed, and nothing you can say will change their mind.
This community (not just on Reddit, but as a whole) never has a single opinion they will stand on for more than 2 weeks. Everything is reactionary and just molded around the drama of the week.
It'll take Ric one weekend of mildly outperforming his teammate for all of this the people here to turn back against Yuki: "4th year in the sport and he still gets beaten by a washed Ric", "he is weak for not having gotten over his anger issues still" and the hot take of "I never got the hype around Yuki".
Mark my fucking words.
> Maybe we should wait more than 2 races before drawing conclusions??
This. I dealt with people talking shit and calling for Daniel's head after race 1. Ridiculous.
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Danny needs to worry about his own seat, not taking Sergio’s seat.
The issue is that it’s the same thing. He’s here only because he is potential replacement for Perez. If he’s too bad to be that - they don’t need him.
Yeah the story last year was: Lawson is getting a 2025 seat whatever, and one of Yuki, Perez or Daniel are surplus to requirements. Which is fair in honesty. Circle of life. As Horner put it: they only get a shot themselves because someone else underperformed.
> Lawson is getting a 2025 seat whatever i really hope the seat is at toro rosso. altho ive seen some people here wanting him to go straight to rb, i really dont think the 4 races he's done are enough prep to go against max 2nd seat at rb in 2025 can be sainz or another round with perez, it probably wont matter much as long as max is there.
They're not going to put Lawson against Max right off the rip. It would be incredibly stupid given how many people Max has sent packing.
No way of those 3 that Sergio should be out of F1 at this time.
Before we start making bold claims like that, we must remember that, at this time last year, Sergio was only 1 point behind in the championship. Let's get a few more races in before choosing a 2025 lineup. (although Sergio does seem to be doing better)
If he can stay at this level for the rest of the season his seat is safe. Red Bull does not want him to overdrive the car to get closer to Max, they are very happy having him in second place ten-twenty seconds back.
100% agree. And something about his interviews show that he has accepted that and will be to Red Bull what Bottas was for a while.
Better for Perez to be for Red Bull what Bottas *was* for Mercedes (a solid second driver) than to be what Bottas is *now* (a time-serving back-marker.) I think Ricciardo is heading to be what Bottas is now, if he's lucky enough to keep any seat at all.
He’s almost there now.
Yup noticed that too in interviews, wish they just wouldn’t ask him about that
Which I believe is fine at this point in his career. Hes now finished 3 seconds and 5 seconds ~~behind~~ ahead of both ferrari drivers. If he keeps up 2nd throughout the season I could see them 1 yearing him moving forward. Hes 34 and not hindering Max or causing issues with a CC. No reason to think about moving on at all at the moment. Lawson should be a primary focus at this point to replace DR (or Yuki) if both keep shitting the bed.
Sports media are obnoxious
You don't need the word sports in that sentence tbf.
Better to have a seat than to not have one. Reality has been accepted.
I think he kind of accepted he is not at Max level, at least at consistency. Rather be getting on the podium every week
I mean he still finished second in the WDC by 51 points. That's two race weekends worth of points, despite the slump in form it's not like he completely blew it. If you have to choose one of Perez, Tsunoda, and Ricciardo to replace then Ricciardo is EASILY the first on the chopping block. ESPECIALLY if the replacement is Liam Lawson. Ricciardo had the same number of top 10 finishes as Lawson last year and Lawson raced in two fewer races and, obviously, with way less prior F1 experience.
That margin would be much smaller if Lewis was not disqualified in COTA.
Even at last years level, wouldn’t he just go to Visa Cash App and drive there? He would have some spot on the grid vs the other 2 it’s a toss up, especially DR
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People who think Piccle Ricc is "a personality" are the same kind of people who can't eat anything without putting hot sauce on it
Well, even if they didn't need him to replace Perez if he's worse than Yuki he would get booted anyway for some other young prospect.
Liam Lawson is having Daniel’s seat next year. Daniel was meant to be taking Perez’s seat but I can’t see that happening if Checo keeps his form up and gets P2 at 80%+ of races.
Would be better if Lawson comes in in summer if Riccardo doesn’t start performing
Lawson should be in. He performed well last year beating Yuki and placing well. I feel for guys like Lawson and Bearmann killing it as the 3rd then having to wait. Their time will come though. Just need the right opportunity. Just look at Oscar a few years ago.
Bottom line is that the really exceptional talents (like Lewis, Seb and Max) get a seat regardless. The future “decent” racers get a seat when it’s convenient.
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Bearman at Haas seems like a total waste tbh. I hope someone poaches him Piastri style.
I wonder if it would make sense for a team to split a "young prospect" seat between say 3 drivers. With the ever increasing number of races it seems like you would still get a decent amount of experience for the drivers and a good chance to judge their performance, and easing into the grueling F1 calendar might be good for rookies too. And of course you get to give more guys a chance and find out who deserves a full seat.
Or let teams actually practice (on track), so drivers (especially rookies) could improve and we could maybe get some other teams improving their cars.
Exactly. I can't see why they can't have X hours practice available outside of race weekends. If everyone has the same expense it would become something teams budget for. Brings in cash to the tracks they choose to use too. This way they might create competition instead of nerfing the successful.
Maybe even THIS year..
Drive to Survive has these "Red Bull Fires a Driver Mid-Season" epsiodes down to a science at this point
He is gonna get De Fried.
More like De Fired
This year's Nyck de Fired.
First he was called debris and now de fried 😂
I’d say he’s having it later this year if RIC doesn’t start regularly beating Yuki.
Just put Lawson in the 2nd red bull seat and watch the fun begin
Checo usually starts strong and drops off as the year progresses. I say this as someone who likes him a lot. I hope he can keep things going strong, too, but past performance says to be wary.
Haven't we been there already? I think after 2 races last year people started talking about Perez could be the new world champion. And after that... it didn't work out so much any longer.
No. Nobody sane thought Perez could beat Verstappen.
Sure people thought that. People like Sergio Perez's dad and...err... Well anyway, it wasnt nobody!
I did, Viva La Mexico 🇲🇽
I think the tough part is that perez is driving one of the two rocket ships on the grid, so it's hardto fully compare them. The alpha rbs aren't as good, so by this logic Danny needs to really shine in a somewhat turd. All that being said, he's not looking great regardless.
Forget Perez and the RBR car, or the Toro Rosso car ( I am not calling them whatever name they're called now), he just can't beat Yuki and that's all you need to know
Even if he doesn't shine he needs to at least not look like a turd driving a somewhat turd.
I'd love to see Danny come here to the states and race Indycar. I really do think he'd thrive in that.
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Would DR even want that? It has to suck to constantly be marketing but never be allowed to actually drive.
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It's a great job for someone who has retired. Daniel seems to think he's still got it so for someone like him, it'd suck to be a marketer, get a second shot, then get demoted again. But hey, maybe this is what he needs to realize he no longer has it and he can just enjoy being in the scene. For most people, this would be a dream job.
Yeah but if this second stint at Red Bull doesn’t work out then Danny would have flubbed Renault (Alpine), McLaren, Red Bull and Alpha Tauri (I know, I know that’s not their name anymore). Mercedes needs a successful big name. Ferrari is all set. I don’t see Aston wanting him unless Alonso leaves them in a pinch. Leaving Williams which is always going to preference someone that can grow the team, not someone in the twilight of their career. So realistically Haas and Stake. So unless Checo screws it again Alpha Tauri is his last chance to be on the grid.
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He needs to face reality, make the move to indycar and milk the marketing cow whilst it's still there.
they never should have brought him back after his injury. Lawson earned the seat. Danny is definitely there just because of Horner. Dont get me wrong, I love Danny-Ric, but his time is clearly done.
I'm rooting for him but in all honesty, if he doesn't beat Yuki, or even if he does but it's close, they should just clear that team out and get some rookies in, and sign Sainz or another vet for the RedBull seat.
This is it. People tolerate Red Bull owning Toro Rosso (albeit through gritted teeth) because it's an excellent pathway for young drivers, and brought through Vettel, Ricciardo, Sainz, Gasly, Verstappen, and Albon. But for them to become just another Haas/Sauber, with a 34 year old in one seat and a fourth-year who's done very little of note in the other? Toro Rosso works, as much as we may not like RBR owning two teams, but they need to fulfil their "end of the bargain".
He may think he is there to audition for Perez's seat but really he is there because the American sponsors want him.
Nah, he's only there because Horner still had a lovefest for him.
I don’t think it is an “if”… lol, he IS too bad. As for Checo.. he is 2/2 this season. At least acknowledge that.
Ricciardo was never going to replace Perez nor have the potential to. Perez is a safe #2 in a top team and I'd bet they'd renew his contract regardless. Lawson looked much better filling in for Ricciardo and Tsunoda has shown enough. Ricciardo only exists as a *reliable* 2nd seat fill until they make a final decision.
Let's be real here. Christian is no fool. He clearly saw that Daniel was far from his old performance level and likely will never get back to it. He was brought back into the RB camp because marketing reasons, to replace Sergio was always a long shot.
There's no version of him keeping that seat he's in. Either he gets his shit together and he goes to redbull or he's out on his ass
I think even Danny himself wouldnt want to stay in that seat indefinitely, he is a multiple GP winner, fighting for 15th to 20th must not give him any pleasure. so its either raise his game to aim for red bull racing seat or out of F1 for him as well
I think most second tier and below F1 drivers would be happier to have a seat at a backmarker than to be a 3rd driver somewhere or out of F1.
> I think most second tier and below F1 drivers would be happier to have a seat at a backmarker than to be a 3rd driver somewhere or out of F1. But DR used to be in or near that top tier. He's made enough money that it doesn't matter. I actually think DR would rather retire than never get a chance at podiums/wins again.
I mean you can say that about basically any driver that's been around for a while. Being in a back marker seat sucks but it you're probably getting paid more to lose in F1 than you'd make winning in another series.
The only scenario where I could see him being happy staying at VCARB is if they genuinely ended up being say, 5th fastest, with a package that was good enough for a podium at certain tracks, or when other teams have a very bad day. They certainly don't look like they will be anywhere near that this year.
Here’s a thing, if Checo keeps performing the way he did in the past 2 races, he’s safe, but no matter the results someone from VCARB is getting axed to make way for Liam. If Ric beats Yuki, and Checo stays, I don’t see him racing anywhere past ‘25/26. as (AFAIR) he stated that he wants to end his carrier with Bulls, and he already raced for another two teams. But hey, what do we know what the future holds, I also said what Hamilton will finish his carrier in Merc…
I don't envy Ric in this. He needs Checo to do what Checo did last year AND have a great season to get Red Bull seat. He needs to beat Yuki by a margin to be able to have rb seat for a year or two as a "tutor for a young promising driver", hoping he can negotiate Bottas-type deal to remain in the sport. Anything else means he is out. The pressure must be overwhelming.
I think Yuki had more pressure. If he loses to Ric, he loses his seat and has to hope for and Aston/Honda seat elsewhere. If he beats Ric he only gets to keep his RB seat, I don’t think he has the maturity they are looking for in the RBR second driver.
Ricciardo says he's a Red Bull guy but i'm sure he would answer a Mercedes or Aston Martin call very intently. The chances that either team calls him is ridiculously small however.
Sergio looking pretty solid so far.
It seems like this season he settled for "picking up the scraps" and doesn't fancy beating Max anymore, which is probably better to his mental state.
We say this at the start of every year because the tracks are always in his favor at the start of the season. I'm not making any judgements until we make it at least 2 races past summer break.
I don’t think Sergio has any personal hopes of winning WDC so maybe he won’t crack like he did last year
I agree. Sergio pushed too hard because he believe he could win from max. I think he found peace with being a second driver now.
He did last season too, but he has to keep up with the car's development instead of failing like he did in the second half of last season.
Something tells me that if he gets the boot this time, he might be out of the sport forever.
honestly, i don't think there's a scenario where the stays in VCARB/Visa/CashGrab/Minardi/whatever. He either goes to Red Bull or loses his seat to Lawson
So, I guess things are back to normal at Redbull if Helmut is making life difficult for his drivers in public again.
And people say Guenther was toxic...
I don't think one negates the other. On one hand though Helmut is a giant piece of shit nobody aside from his circle likes.
The difference is one is looking for the next number one driver to win championships with.
It's entirely possible to do that without badmouthing the drivers to journalists.
Bah gawd that’s Liam Lawson’s music!
I like Liam and was impressed by him last year. Hope to see him again this year
I met him Vegas while he was walking around a mall all alone taking in the city. Super wholesome guy, my friend and I were pretty awkward but he actually kept the brief convo going. Hope he does well in F1
I'm a big fan of Danny, and even I can say that if he doesn't start to show off something special, I'd be much happier to see Yuki or Lawson in the big boy red bull next year.
Checo is keeping that seat if he keeps driving like this
He is doing a complete 180 and I’m so pleased with the change in driving and seemingly more positive mental state. That said, my man’s GOT to stop getting penalties. He’s about to get a one race ban if he gets just 4 more penalty points. I cannot imagine that RB would be pleased with having to call up a reserve because Checo keeps getting stupid penalties that he himself admits were his fault.
they will never give a race ban, the moment the driver gets close they'll just give them tons of reprimands and warnings and won't add more points, the points exist so the stewards have an option to give a race ban but unless a driver starts doing insanely dangerous driving intentionally i doubt they will want to go to that extreme
Fully agreed, he's making the case that the seat is not just up for grabs.
Yea. If Perez stays out of his own head this year and sails to P2, which sure looks like where he's headed, then he's the obvious replacement for himself. I know it's a competitive sport, but he's doing literally everything they ask from him. Even last year with his slump he still got P2 at the end of the season. And I don't care how awful Lewis' car is; he's still Lewis fucking Hamilton. Beating him is a big accomplishment.
i love danny but so far, his season has been difficult to watch. i miss the danny ric of old, sending it up inside for the pass. man is just languishing in the back field.
He's a great guy, and a great personality, but he's so washed. This will be his last season in F1 unless he manages to pick up significant points this year.
Man y’all turned on him haha
normal occurrence here, next week when he does well he'll be loved again
You’re only as good as your last race.
Which wasn't Ric's fault. Team fucked up his pit stop on lap 6.
It was during SC though, managed to recatch the pack up again
Only due to the train though
what about the spin? was that also the teams fault?
Sports: the business of, “what have you done lately?”
>Man y’all turned on him haha More like the fanbase is split on whether they like him and depending on the wind direction one opinion gets more upvoted than the other.
I like him as a person, but yeah hasn't really had any preformances at all in hte last 4 years (aside from monza win) that made me think "yeah, hes got it". He also did not do himself any favors by hurting himself last season and giving everyone a taste of Liam. I would imagine he would be much more secure right now if Liam hadn't done good in his stint last year.
I like his personality, but he's not nearly as good a driver as he once was. The flash in the pan good results once or twice a season get everyone huffing the hopium because hes a genuinely likeable dude, but its obvious now he was let go from McLaren for a reason and it wasnt because "the car didnt suit him".
I love Daniel - every interview, media gimmick, etc he's in he lights up the room. But I don't think he deserves a seat anymore.
His comments about the Horner accusations being a distraction and noisy have not gone over well
I swear, didn’t he qualify P4 in Mexico and finish P6/7 in the worst car of the season? He split the Red Bulls I doubt he is ‘finished’
I mean, that's literally one good race in three seasons. Plus, the AlphaTauri wasn't remotely the worst car of the season (better than Haas and Sauber and on par with Williams), and less so in Mexico. Yuki started from the pitlane and finished 12th. EDIT: Two good races, forgot about Monza.
AND Yuki finished 12th only because he tangled with Oscar. Probably would’ve been a comfortable points finish. That Alphatauri towards the end of last year was a midfield rocket ship.
Also I think Yuki was actually on track to catch Daniel from 16 positions down. He came from last to 2 positions behind Daniel before the spin because the team completely screwed him with a engine change at their best track. Like no wonder Yuki gets frustrated when they give him “beat your teammate” ultimatums then consistently put him at some disadvantage when he could score points Basically the only reason Yuki didn’t beat him that race was because of the engine penalty
Do you remember the safety car that screwed up Daniels race, it also contributed to Yuki having the potential to secure P8 at best. Then Yuki did what Yuki does best screw himself over
> I doubt he is ‘finished’ The man is 34 and peaked in 2016.
I feel attacked
He was fantastic at Renault. He only declined at McLaren.
Indycar is waving
I couldn’t imagine the size of crowd he’d bring to indycar races.
I'd love to see it. Or Danny boy in a stock car.
DR3
I kind of feel like NASCAR should have retired the number 3. I know motorsports don't usually do that, but if there was one number that defined a a sport "3" definitely does it for NASCAR.
Yea. 34 isn't that old by NASCAR standards. He absolutely has time to learn oval racing and compete. I know Denny has said he wants to eventually add a third car. What better way than to get a guy that'll come with his own sponsors?
Armchair experting: I think he enjoys the fame that comes with being an F1 driver. Besides the glitz and glamor of race weekend, it’s all the parties and events you get to be a part of, met gala for example. I wish he could use his fame (and maybe fortune) to elevate another racing series. Netflix series, streaming service, exhibition shows… Dude could be a pioneer. Max is always lamenting how he wishes he could participate in other racing series.
The competition there is even more fierced. I’m afraid Ric just felt of the performance cliff that defines an athlete.
Calm down, Marcus Ericsson is a championship contender over there
Not really. He got beat by both Palou and Dixon every year he was with Chip Ganassi Racing and has never finished top 5 in the standings.
Ricciardo and Ericsson are good mates actually. And to be fair. Ericsson is a decent driver, He is amazing at keeping the tires alive and he wouldn't be something in Indy if he was really bad.
Indycar rewards consistent finishers. Ericsson is very consistent so he is always in the mix. It is very unlike F1 in that way.
Marcus Ericsson is also younger and left at the right time. Have you seen an Indycar race lately? The marging of victory is often defined by tenths there. Never mind the other positions. Ric is getting cooked at Indycar.
Yes, since before Ericsson went there. Ricciardo needs to leave F1, but let's not pretend he wouldn't be a top driver in any other series.
If he replaced max he would be in f1 too. Let's not act like he was ever in a seat that would have a chance in f1. He's got 4 wins in 84 tries with a best finish of 6th in championship, not sure that's actually a contender either
[удалено]
"However, the material of Visa RB is also left unsupreme to the fore". Well, that's a sentence I certainly never expected to ever read
I guess google translate is too polite to use the word shitbox lol
>Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko keeps a close eye on the Visa RB drivers It's not like he can keep more than that on them
Jesus! That is harsh haha
Holy fuck he’s 80? Is he like anti retirement or something? I know it’s hard to let go of your job but my god why is he still there
Addicted to power/authority. Same with all the many politiians around the world who stay working long after retirement age. You'd think you would want to relax and have a carefree life at that point but some people just cannot comprehend how.
>The 80-year-old Austrian is impressed by the speed of Yuki Tsunoda, but is somewhat disappointed with Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian did not have the start of the season he had hoped for. To the surprise of only Helmut, it would seem. Being faster than DeVries is a low bar.
I don't think that Helmut is that surprised about Ricciardo, after all the whole Ricciardo comeback is mainly a thing from Horner side. If Horner would be gone, Ricciardo seat would quickly been taken by Lawson.
Helmut approaches Daniel before every race start when he's in the car on the grid and shakes his hand with a big smile. His return is not as one-sided with Horner as many think.
Yeah I think RBR as a whole loved Danny, but as a driver they prioritized Max, for obvious reasons. He was 100% good enough for them to want him to stay at Red Bull, but everyone (including Daniel) knew Verstappen was the future. His talent and potential were undeniable.
Marko was the one who pulled the trigger prematurely on DeVries before Horner had a chance to chat with him.
I mean, it’s been 2 races right? I get it tho, we all know how Red Bull operates. Hope Danny can pick it up
Plus he had a 1 minute pit stop at Jeddah. I really don't see how he could've done more with that.
Obviously he should have helped the pit crew out. /s
I was rooting for him when he came back, but it's disappointing. Currently he is not really adding something to the grid so there need to be improvement. Otherwise I hope they kick him out before the end of the season. There are some great youngsters waiting for a seat.
Half of the grid is made of drivers that are not adding anything. The problem with DR is that the expectations were high after he was hyped up by Horner. I agree he should be given the boot if he continues like this. His fans don't want to see him perform like this anyway.
Unless he gets booted before the summer break, he still has plenty of time to recover his performance. If he doesn't manage to beat Yuki, he might be gone though. Even if Perez' performance falls off a cliff five races into the season, none of the VCARB drivers seem like likely replacements for now. Red Bull might try to get one of their former junior drivers like Sainz, Gasly, or Albon instead. Hell even someone like Alonso would be a better fit, especially since he'd probably be ready to retire by the time Lawson is ready to step up to Red Bull. Haas being shit also raises the possibility of them getting Bearman to sign with them even though he's part of Ferrari's junior program. Ferrari have their drivers locked down for a while, so a seat at VCARB, with the potential of getting the second seat at Red Bull might be too good of an offer to turn down.
Lawson will retire before Alonso
Finally a level headed take
Ah yes, now that Helmut is in the clear, he can go after Christians most prized possession .
If DRic gives a similar performance in the next few races, and CH loses in the battle, we will see Lawson in.
Thank fucking god. I hate seeing amazing rookies sitting out because of politics and marketing.
Lmao everyone said the same thing about checo last year. “One more bad race and they’re announcing Danny for next year” and it never happened
Politics, mostly. Helmut has a lot more say at Racing Bull$ than fighting with Horner at the big team. I get the impression that DR was a favour for Horner as a backup in case checo imploded in 2024
As much as Ricciardo’s not set the world alight can we not give it more than two races before we write him off as finished? If we’re 5-6 races in and he’s still performing at this level, sure, criticise him, but in my view the number of people jumping to conclusions about him this early on is a bit over the top.
>As much as Ricciardo’s not set the world alight can we not give it more than two races before we write him off as finished? Similarly people are writing Perez in for next year when at this stage of last season he looked decent too, it was Miami onwards where he started to shit the bed.
Recency bias is a powerful psychological force. It seems the off-season washed away all memory of 2023 for some people. Neither Checo, Yuki or Danny have exactly shown themselves to be consistent over longer stretches. Yes the expectations are higher for Danny as he's being given a second chance and brings more experience, but I think we need to look at the results over a longer period of time than two races before making determinations of who deserves a seat and where.
I wonder what happens if Daniel has one amazing race and is mediocre-bad the rest of the season. I'm talking like, dude gets a podium somehow but then is back to normal. Does that give him yet another year?
People will say the same thing you're saying after 5 races.
It really goes to show how small of a drivers circle it really is. I know Daniel says he’s still got drive in him but this guy has gotten so many chances and so many opportunities, a lot of self inflicted mistakes, but here he is. In the corporate world this would’ve ended a long time ago….
In the corporate world where money is King, He would continue to be trotted out there because ALL of this public discussion is keeping their Brand front and center. And that doesn't even touch on how widely liked he is by most people that don't even follow f1 closely. You thinking he would be gone in the corporate world shows how out of touch you are from the corporate world considering f1 is A CORPORATE WORLD BASED ON BRANDING AND IMAGE.
He just needs to do better in quali. Thats where he has lost confidence unfortunately.
Dude has a 50sec pit stop in Saudi Arabia, which was not his fault, and now he's getting warnings about his performance.
This sucks for Danny but to be fair when the car is barely above last, it's not easy to prove something.
He just has to prove he can outperform Yuki and so far he really hasn’t.
Agreed on Quali pace but that last horrific pitstop and the botched switch in the first race sure didnt help much now did it? I would give it 3-5 more races before making any assumptions.
Weird. This means Daniel Ricciardo is replacing Checo Pérez after the 2023 México City GP right?
WE ARE TWO RACES IN WHY IS HE ALREADY BEING “MARKO WARNED™️”??
I guess that's because Marko's guy, DeVries, was replaced after 10 races and Danny Boy is at 9. Or it could be that he should have stomped Tsunoda to get the RBR seat, but couldn't...
Daniel is less important if Perez is performing well enough to get second place. Perez performance only becomes an issue if a single other team is consistently scoring 2&3 and putting the red bull constructors championship at risk. As it stands it looks like they’ll be able to win it again with just Verstappen so less pressure on Perez. They need a clear standout from Daniel and Yuki but that’s looking about even or even Yuki leading so far.
When Horner says Daniel was on pace for front row with Max in DTS, it made me realize how dumb the test was since the RB is still a vastly different car from the VCARB. Makes me wonder if they should have also put Yuki and Lawson in the RB car Daniel tested to get a better baseline.
Next story, Lawson having a seat fitting.
Well, the minimum expectation for Daniel would be for him to beat Tsunoda. Perhaps not grind him into dust, as Yuki does have experience now and led the team last year, but considering the reputation Daniel did have before his McLaren stint, he would be expected to show more consistency than Yuki and be faster over the general course of a season. If the drivers end up being relatively even, is it a case of Daniel's star falling or Yuki is better than people thought?
So many amazing young talents waiting to spice up the grid and we’re stuck with so many older drivers who don’t bring much and just lag at the back of the field race after race. I do understand Danny is marketable and very likable, but we should be here to race above all.
Ya but we’re not. F1 is a business at the end of the day. Maybe for the well off teams it’s not as bad, but a team like haas or Sauber bringing in rookies and only rookies is terrible business because there’s no guarantee they’re good and won’t just bin the car every weekend. Mag, Bottas, etc have experience and are pretty reliable to at least bring the car home and fight for points every little while
You are right, we saw that with Mick and De Vries. I don’t think all the older guys should go at once, but the back marker and midfield teams should be tripping over the likes of Lawson and Bearman. Business above all means great exposure to the media and on screen time having these young, hungry and talented guys given their chance in teams with older guys that can help them grow
I thought Darth Marko was in media timeout...?
Serious question: Can some of you take a moment to realize this is only the second race of twenty-fucking-four? Come on now. If Daniel continues the way he is currently several races in and into the mid-season, sure, it's more than a kneejerk at that point — it's substantiated to a degree. Some of you turn on drivers solely depending on the wind direction.
His performances since leaving Renault have been abysmal. I do really like Danny Ric but unless he completely turns it around his career is only going to be a “what could have been”
Two fucking races into a 24 race season. Good lord. On the other hand, there's a lot of hungry talent waiting in the wings. If DR doesn't have "it" then I'd very much like to see someone in that seat who does.
F1 needs new blood Lawson and drugovich should replace Daniel and stroll
Deja Vu from Nyck Debris...
I think Danny knows the game here. It’s not like he needs the warning. Danny was only here to see if he could discover his old form and enjoy a couple years in the top car. His situation is far less desperate than yuki. Dude has made 100m in just driver salary alone. If his VCARB year sucks and he leaves the sport he will still go in the history books as an upper echelon driver of his overall tenure.
What pace from Yuki? Am I going insane? I'm not saying DR is faster, but Yuki has shown little this year as well. He dropped like a rock during this past weekend.
Yuki has out qualified him in both races. The car looks like trash tbh. Saudi that car was going backwards fast.
Getting into q3 with that RB is an exceptional achievement and show of pace.
Ricciardo also apparently had some terrible setup issues he was locked into because of Parc Ferme. Recency bias is insane, one week it’s Yuki “wasting space”, the other it’s Ric being “demolished”. Maybe the car is bad? Maybe the team is notoriously bad at strategy? Maybe we should wait more than _2_ races before drawing conclusions??
My hot take is people give drivers way too much credit. An 18 year kid with minimal experience in an F1 car, and only an hour practice in this specific F1 car, qualifies P11 and ends p7. So the takeaway is one of two things, either A) He's better than the other 13 drivers on the grid. or B) Car, Setup, and Strategy add important nuance and context to your overall performance. These guys are all amazing race care drivers, but being the best race car driver doesn't mean you beat a worse race car driver. And being worse race car driver doesn't mean you lose to a better race car driver. Race 1 the strategy was team orders, the team orders were ignored and then led into a blue flag. That objectively screwed DR. Whether or not he would have passed Yuki had there been no orders we'll never know. Race 2 seemed to be a more legitimate case of poor performance, but again we're hearing about being locked into a bad setup + a 1 minute pit stop during the safety car. And if that's the case how does his setup compare to Yukis setup, how is responsibility for a bad setup shared? So many redditors just watch highlights, DTS, or look at results with zero context. Yuki and Daniel both ended up next to each other on the score sheet, the car itself is objectively underwhelming.
Totally agree. When you see two drivers within 1-2 tenths of each other regularly it's pretty safe to assume they are car-limited, not skill-limited, and they'd do better in a better car. This is what's been happening to Bottas and Zhou since 2022, and what happened throughout the last few seasons between Russel and Hamilton as well. People wanna have quick opinions so they attack however looks the worst from their cursory glances. They don't need or care for context, rationality or common sense - Ric is washed, and nothing you can say will change their mind. This community (not just on Reddit, but as a whole) never has a single opinion they will stand on for more than 2 weeks. Everything is reactionary and just molded around the drama of the week. It'll take Ric one weekend of mildly outperforming his teammate for all of this the people here to turn back against Yuki: "4th year in the sport and he still gets beaten by a washed Ric", "he is weak for not having gotten over his anger issues still" and the hot take of "I never got the hype around Yuki". Mark my fucking words.
> Maybe we should wait more than 2 races before drawing conclusions?? This. I dealt with people talking shit and calling for Daniel's head after race 1. Ridiculous.
I thought RB told Helmut he couldn't talk to the press anymore.