Red Bull to run Ricciardo at Young Drivers’ Test

2013 F1 season

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Daniel Ricciardo will drive for Red Bull in this week’s Young Drivers’ Test in the clearest signal yet he is being considered for a place at the team in 2014.

Red Bull announced a revised driver line-up for this week’s test following the FIA’s decision to allow race drivers to participate.

Ricciardo will be one of five drivers to get behind the wheel of the RB9 during the three days of running.

Antonio Felix da Costa and Carlos Sainz Jnr, who were previously confirmed to be driving for Red Bull at the test, will run on the mornings of the three test days.

Ricciardo will have his run on Wednesday afternoon, taking over from Da Costa. On Thursday Da Costa will hand over to Mark Webber, and Sebastian Vettel will drive on Friday afternoon following Sainz’s run.

Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso team mate and fellow Red Bull development driver Jean-Eric Vergne has not been given a test.

2013 F1 season


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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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106 comments on “Red Bull to run Ricciardo at Young Drivers’ Test”

  1. I think they should run JEV too, if anything you can compare the two of them in a high pressure situation

    1. good point, but now it becomes 6 drivers… too many for 3 days.

    2. JEV is not in contention, why bother running him?

      1. Actually, it’s believed that Vergne is in contention for the seat, but he’s a distant third to Raikkonen and Ricciardo.

        Also, Toro Rosso need someone to do their tyre work. It’s not going to do much good if he goes and tests for Red Bull as well.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          16th July 2013, 16:12

          I might be wrong but I’m sure I read Ricciardo is testing for Toro Rosso as well.

          I can’t imagine them going for Vergne ahead of Ricciardo and Raikkonen now unless there’s a major shift in at Toro Rosso….

    3. They have just murdered JEV, we don’t expect him to beat Ricciardo but there’s a long way till the end of the championship, I guess RB doesn’t need more proof. STR engineers should have enough information after this year and a half.

      1. need more proof… and/or need the money…?

      1. That’s a shame, Vergne is doing better than Ricciardo on race day.
        He’s got more points (same as last year) and his average race finish is better:
        Vergne’s average race finish is 10 and Ricciardo’s is 12.
        I guess if they chose Ricciardo, it’s for his quali pace.

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          16th July 2013, 18:04

          @philippe that sum of points you mention is just because Ricciado got a tyre puncture in Silverstone when he was displaying brilliantly, and in Monaco Grosjean crashed him badly.

          1. @omarr-pepper – No, that was Vergne that had a puncture. Ricciardo slipped back in the later stages because he was on old tyres and in a slower car than the Ferraris, Lotuses, Mercedes and RBRs.

          2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            16th July 2013, 19:08

            @david-a you’re right, so in this kind of incidents they are even too! :P

        2. Maybe now is the time for Vergne to really shine, as Ricciardo is under a new kind of external pressure. He is certainly capable. I’d like to see JEV with Kimi at Lotus, if he doesn’t land another TAUREAU ROUGE deal.

    4. hello kitty agwees with this…

  2. Sounds like a shootout. I think Ricciardo will get the drive. And deservedly so. Da Costa will step up to Toro Rosso. And a full Renault 3.5 year for Sainz Junior next year.

  3. I am a bit puzzled. That is 1.5 days of regular driver’s driving for red bull. I thought only 1 day was allowed.

    1. @sandy they’re allowed as many days as they want as long as the test drivers don’t touch any new parts.

  4. Christian Horner recently said that ‘It is always preferential to test with race drivers rather than test drivers’. Now Red Bull are voluntarily letting test drivers do 50% of the job.

    1. @girts Because the race drivers weren’t allowed to do “the job” – only the test drivers are allowed to test parts. The race drivers are only allowed to test the tyres, which isn’t “the job.”

      1. @raymondu999 I guess you are 100% right, sorry for the confusion.

      2. Yes, it stopped being about testing (young) drivers as soon as the test ban came in.

        1. I thought it stopped being about young drivers as soon as the tires started exploding.

          1. Sorry, as soon as I hit ‘Post Comment’ I realized you might mean that as soon as they banned in-season testing F1 stopped being about nurturing young drivers and made what little testing they do the primary drivers’ job.

  5. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
    16th July 2013, 10:15

    This basically means that Riccardo will drive at Red Bull. Unfortunatley he seems like a nice guy, so that means that Marko and Vettel will put him in num.2 status.

    At least he’s got character, unlike most of the new crop of F1 drivers.

    1. @full-throttle-f1 – He’ll only be number two at Red Bull so long as Vettel is there to be number one. If he’s still there when Vettel leaves, what’s to say he won’t become number one by default. The ability to take over as lead driver if Vettel should leave the team to be taken out of action (like Schumacher in 1999) is a skill Red Bull would certainly consider in any driver they are looking to take on.

    2. @full-throttle-f1 I think it’s not certain yet, this test just confirms that he is on the list of candidates (they cannot invite Raikkonen to tests anyway). If RBR knew for sure that Ricciardo would replace Webber, then I think they would give him more time in the car but even da Costa will be able to drive more laps.

      1. Yes, but its clearly safe to say that JEV will be looking for a new job for next year @girts, that is one battle won for Ricciardo. Would be funny if from now on he faired like Perez did in the second half of last year and Vergne beat him solidly :-)

        1. I agree with @girts , if Ricciardo gets the seat it doesn´t mean that he will be a nomber 2, same as Webber never was, if you want a example of driver number too si Grosjean, Barrichelo and Massa. Even now that Webber is on his way out of the team they are giving him half afternoon to test tyres, contrary to Lotus who isn´t giving Grosjean the same chance.

          And I don´t think that Vergne is necessary out of a job @bascb , but he really need to improeve.

          As I see it the drivers with a really chance to go to Toro Rosso if Ricciardo gets promoted is Da Costa (even when IMHO he isn´t doing that great job this year), Calado and Cecotto. Sainz is way too young

      2. Obviously, they CAN invite Raikkonen just as they can invite Riccardo. As far as I can tell, both drivers are regular F1 drivers driving for the rival teams. Except, Red Bull and Torro Rosso have something to admit, since I can for the life of me imagine a team giving a taste of their car to a rival driver. Imagine how much he could relay back to his own team. I thought 3 or 4 cars per team still isn’t allowed?

        1. The mental image of Lotus grilling Kimi for details about the RB9 is hilarious.
          Eric: So tell us what was it like?
          Kimi: Fast.
          Eric: Ok, and where do they have the edge on our performance?
          Kimi: My lap time was lower.
          Eric: Umm, can you give us any details about where we can improve?
          Kimi: No. I must poop.

          1. Omg that’s hilarious.

      3. I’m curious. Why can’t Raikkonen test for Red Bull? Like Raikkonen, Ricciardo is a full-time driver of another team. Surely the rules don’t give special consideration to Red Bull/Toro Rosso just because they’re sister teams?

        1. Bloody good point @adrians, but I suspect it would be in somewhat bad taste on Kimi’s part if he was to partake in a mid season test with a rival team!

          Dan is driving for a different team, but they’re not really rivals.

        2. I’m afraid it’s a tad different and i’m sure Raikkonen himself wouldn’t want to test for Red Bull if he was offered. Why would he spend a day potentially improving his title rival’s car to the detriment of his current team? … leaving aside the contracts he has at Lotus.

          Toro Rosso is the Red Bull “sister” team and their drivers are Red Bull “property”.

        3. @adrians Nothing to do with the rules, it’ll be because of contracts. Raikkonen’s contract certainly won’t allow for him to drive a test for a rival team, and let’s face it, Red Bull wouldn’t like a rival team’s driver sitting in their garage and getting a good look at their current race car. Toro Rosso is a bit unusual in that it’s a ‘feeder’ team for Red Bull, so they’re not exactly going to prevent their drivers testing for RBR.

    3. This could just be a tactic to get Kimi to settle for less, but I hope not.

    4. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      16th July 2013, 16:18

      @full-throttle-f1 probably just a way to push Kimi make up his mind, and to see how fast Ricciardo can be

    5. petebaldwin (@)
      16th July 2013, 16:30

      @full-throttle-f1 Webber isn’t number 2 because of any reason other than him being much slower than Vettel.
      If Ricciardo qualifies on pole and drives off into the distance like Vettel often does, Red Bull won’t make him give the place up like Ferrari would (for example)

  6. They should run JEV too to better compare them, its only fair.

    1. @pmccarthy_is_a_legend They’ve had ample opportunity to compare them side-by-side in the same team for the last year and a half.

      1. @keithcollantine yes, they did, and that’s the very reason they should give Vergne a run. Their results have been comparable over the last year and a half. A case could be made that JEV has delivered better results actually. Finished last season ahead on points (16 to 10 despite having 4 non finishes compared to Ricciardo’s 1) and has scored more points this year too despite having retired four times against Ricciardo’s 1 so far. My impression is that Ricciardo performs well on Saturday’s as his driving style switches the tires on quicker than JEV’s, whereas Vergne is the better racer on Sundays.

        1. If you look at how Red Bull prefer to win their races so far, it could well be that a driver who puts it on the first row is exactly what they need though @pmccarthy_is_a_legend, becasue their cars are less effective when they have to run in traffic to get back up there.

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            16th July 2013, 18:29

            becasue their cars are less effective when they have to run in traffic to get back up there.

            Vettel in Abu Dhabi 2012, and Webber in Valencia 2012 and Germany 2013 (oh, last week) can prove you wrong

          2. indeed they prefer to put 1 and 2 even 2 cars is better on the front row. But as @omar-pepper said they are good everywhere.

          3. @omarr-pepper – ehm, I do not really think that Abu Dhabi 2012 showed that at all. If anything, it showed that teams can make a different setup to suit the race, but I doubt anyone would gamble on doing something like a pitlane start apart from the extreme cases like Vettels qualifying annulement there.
            Valencia 2012 showed Vettel leading from the pole until his car gave up, how does that prove the Red Bull is not at its best from first row? Last week Vettel and Webber were up front from the start, with only Hamilton in front. Yes, Vettel had to push to stay there, but he was at the front and stayed there.

            Sure, in those last 2 races Webber had a good strategy with the right tyres at the right moment to get back pretty close, and a bit of luck with the safetycar (that played a factor in all of them). That just shows Red Bull is not a one trick pony. But it does not mean that they don’t work best when getting the front row and staying there.

        2. Anyone with a bit of F1 common sense knows points in a Torro Rosso is not the same as points in a Red Bull. A Torro Rosso gets points on a random ocassion. A Red Bull gets points every race.

          So they need a driver who can qualify well and finishes ahead more often than not. Thats Ricciardo.

        3. @pmccarthy_is_a_legend You’re forgetting two situations where Ricciardo would’ve scored more points than Vergne last year: Monza (where he lost drive at the last corner and he lost places) and Korea (where I think he had brake problems when he was leading Vergne).

          Even though Vergne finished ahead on points, Ricciardo got the car into point scoring positions more often.
          Their race pace is often more evenly matched but having looked at the lap times after some of the races this season Ricciardo has had the edge on general pace on the longer stints.
          His qualifying performances trump Vergne, and he performs well under pressure.
          Also, I’ve yet to see Ricciardo drop it or make mistakes in practice or in the race. Usually you see drivers (like Vettel) make mistakes in practice because they’re finding the limit, but even when Vergne has made a mistake, Ricciardo keeps it on the road and is still quicker..

  7. It’s difficult to speak from the outside, but if I were Red Bull, I think that I would give the seat to one of these young drivers instead of Raikkonen. Kimi is getting old (for a F1 driver), he’s hard to work with (doesn’t like PR, etc), and he’s probably expensive. Besides, the norm for top teams nowadays is to have clear “number one” and “number two” drivers, likely because it works better than having two “number ones” clashing egos. It could very well be that hiring Kimi ends up paying off, but it’s a gamble. And given that Red Bull’s status quo has given them greal results, I’m not sure that I’d be willing to make that gamble.

    1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
      16th July 2013, 10:32

      +1 COTD

    2. They have too. That is what Horner implies when he says, “we need two strongest drivers”. They need another scoring machine along side Vettel. They don’t care as much about Vettel not getting his fifth title. What Horner is trying to cover is the fifth WCC, that is more and more likely under the threat from arguably best line-up on the grid, Hamilton and Rosberg. That is why Red Bull is so keen on Raikkonen, who a Webber’s better in pretty much every department – and those kind of drivers hard to come by lately.

      And if next years Red Bull turns out to be a bad car, again, you can’t name many drivers on the grid right now beside Vettel and Raikkonen who a guaranteed to outperform the car to maximize the points.

      1. Wow. Vettel is yet to win his 4th. Is leading and has the upper hand but let’s not count out Alonso and Kimi just yet.

        1. (@jcost)
          Depressingly the fourth looks virtually guaranteed – the Red Bulls since 2009 have simply been too strong for any other drivers to compete with. This is also the main reason I’d rather see Kimi in the RB seat in 2014. Everyone feels the new regulations will be a massive shake up, but I suspect that inevitably Newey will once again design a vastly superior car and the old status quo will remain relatively in tact. It would be nice to see some proper competition at the front for a change, which we haven’t seen since Webber had his spirit crushed and stopped caring.

          Sigh.

          1. @sgt-pepper – So Webber’s spirit gets crushed whenever he has a faster teammate? Anyway, this year, we do have competition at the front, with four teams winning races and regularly in contention, but no-one has lived with Vettel’s consistency.

            It’d be good to see Kimi at Red Bull though. I can agree with you on that.

          2. Do you actually follow F1 at all? No competition? Vastly superior car? Cars too strong for anyone else to compete with?

            Vettel won five races in 2010 en route to to winning the title by just four points. He won five races in 2012, winning the title by just three points. Both years featured far more competition at the front than did 2005 and 2006, never mind 2004.

          3. (@jonsan)
            *sigh*
            Although the Lotus and the Mercs are occasionally near the front, they completely lack consistency. The Ferrari is also clearly slower than the RB, but has also been more consistent, has also been more consistent than Lotus and Mercedes.

            The RB is both the fastest, and the most consistent at being fastest. Saying a season is ‘competetive,’ by using 2004 as an example is plainly just silly. Throughout 2010 the RB was blatantly the fastest, he just made more mistakes, and in 2012 it was clearly left hugely dominant with the Asia update. Before the update he was actually behind in the standings, despite the Ferrari being multiple seconds off the pace.

            (@david-a)
            Losing 2010 clearly defeated his spirit yes, it’s a shame really. And glad we agree on Kimi going to RB – it all depends upon if the management has the balls or not and will really highlight just the point of Red Bull in F1 now – is it the Newey-and-Vettel-PR-Excersise, or an actual F1 team that wants to get the best results it can. I really hope for the latter.

          4. @sgt-pepper @jonsan @david-a

            despite the Ferrari being multiple seconds off the pace

            That was not true at any point during the 2012 season.

            Over the first four races Ferrari were on average 1.26% off the pace (less than that in three of those races, the figure being skewed slightly because neither driver reached Q3 in Melbourne). Over a typical 90-second lap that’s a deficit of 1.143s. That was the high watermark of Ferrari’s deficit, and it was far less than “multiple seconds”.

            Ferrari closed the gap significantly from round five onwards. In only one of the remaining sixteen races were they more than 1% off the pace. Their average deficit over those races was 0.63% – that’s 0.567s over a 90-second lap. For your claim of “multiple seconds” per lap to be true F1 lap times would need to be well over five minutes long.

            On top of that we should remember that Red Bull were not the pace-setters at every race (they were at 7 out of 20), nor were they the fastest team on average. Red Bull’s average deficit over the season was 0.38% to Ferrari’s 0.75%. Therefore the difference between the two over the entire season was 0.37%, or 0.333s over our typical lap.

            All this data comes from this article:

            Who had the fastest car? Performance data analysed

          5. @sgt-pepper

            As Keith points out, Ferrari were not “multiple seconds off the pace” in 2012. In 2010, yes, Vettel made a few mistakes, but so did Alonso (Australia lap 1 collision, China jump start, missed Monaco qualifying, Britain illegal overtake, Belgium crash), and Webber (Australia crash with Hamilton, Valencia crash with Kovalainen, Korea crash, plain underperformance in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi). Yeah, RBR were fastest, but Vettel had the most car unreliability and worst luck of the title contenders. That is why the title wasn’t wrapped up earlier.

            Webber’s spirit wasn’t “crushed” by his title loss in 2010. In 2011, Webber even made less mistakes, was more consistent and scored more points. But Vettel, aged 23 at the beginning of 2011, simply improved further. And no engine or brake failures stopped him like numerous occasions in 2010.

            With regards to Kimi Raikkonen, Vettel has already made it clear after the German Grand Prix that he doesn’t really care about who will be in the other seat, whether Kimi or Daniel. Therefore it is up to Kimi Raikkonen himself, and indeed, Red Bull, who show signs of wanting Raikkonen in the team.

    3. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      16th July 2013, 12:53

      The only problem with having a clear number 1 and number 2 driver, is that it’s not necessarily the best for the team in terms of the constructors championship.

      It may be better when preferring 1 driver over the other, but it often means that winning the constructors championship is much more difficult, because the #1 driver will be achieving good results, while the #2 driver will achieve only mediocre results.

      Personally, I think that Raikkonen is the right choice for Red Bull because it will give them the best opportunity to win the Constructors.

      1. Well, that depends. Taking a simplistic view, yes, instead of having one driver getting good results and one driver getting mediocre results, they would have two drivers getting good results. But that’s not always the whole story. With two top drivers fighting each other, they could crash on the track, or at least hurt each other’s chances. Things could get nasty and create division within the team, an uneasy work environment, and things like that. Remember the times of Senna, Prost, Mansell. There’s a reason why most top teams go with the “one-two” approach, even if they want to win the WCC.

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          16th July 2013, 18:39

          @ironcito @tophercheese21 remember 2007, and summing Hamilton- Alonso vs Massa-Raikkonen, McLaren were “virtual” champions. (Put aside the spygate for a moment). That can give you 2 things to think about:
          1. Having 2 great drivers can give you the WDC, but can spoil your WDC.
          2. Remember Brazil 2008 finale, the Ferrari faces? They were so sad, yet they were WCC, so even when money-wise, WDC is more important, in their hearts they just battle for the WDC. If not, Massa would right now be sacked, because having him clearly means, year after year, denying themselves a shot at the WCC

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            16th July 2013, 18:41

            Ouch, typo again @ironcito @tophercheese21
            1. Having 2 great drivers can give you the WDC WCC, but can spoil your WDC.

          2. @omarr-pepper Agreed, and I think that the WDC is what it’s all about. The champion driver is the one who makes the headlines, gets the sponsors, becomes a household name and goes down in the history books. The WCC is nice, but nowhere near as important. And again, this is all referring strictly to results on the track. There are other, less direct things to consider when having two “number ones”, like internal feuds, drivers leaving rather than putting up with their teammate, and so on. For us fans, no doubt we would like two champions with a top car, à la Senna-Prost. But for the team, I think it would be risky.

          3. Ferrari get the most money, whether they finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the WCC! And while McLaren have their achievements in the WCC on their pit walls, who could remember how many WCCs Ferrari have won? But yes, the glory is in the WDC.

    4. “he’s hard to work with (doesn’t like PR, etc), and he’s probably expensive”

      Well he may not like PR, but he has driven for McLaren and Ferrari, two very PR intensive teams. So he may not like it, but he’ll clearly do as he is told when it comes down to it. So far as him being expensive, well he is a world champion and has won 20 grands prix, I think he has earned the right to be expensive. :p

      For me the biggest thing that should put Red Bull off of signing Raikkonen is the fact that if they do, they’ll be passing up another two talented STR youngsters which will call into question the purpose of (a) the Red Bull Young Driver Programme and (b) them owning Scuderia Toro Rosso. If I was a talented young member of the RBYDP and I saw Red Bull signing Raikkonen I would wonder if it is even useful to be a member of the programme. To date the RBYDP has put a lot of drivers into F1 only to see them get dropped by STR and then go into the wilderness (some at absurdly young ages and after showing a bit of promise), not exactly the glittering career you hope for when signing up with them.

      1. I dont think that the RBYDP will keep them from signing Kimi.
        I believe that all the top teams prefer to have top driver in their car in any given point instead of a inexperienced young driver. Dont forget that RB promote Vettel from TR when the team still was a “midfield team” and not when they start claim titles…
        The only top team that has done so, is McLaren with Hamilton and Perez.
        It is much more vital for RB, especially with the major rule changes next year, to have two very strong drivers in their car and be able to fight for both Championships. @geemac

    5. This is a bit of manoeuvring by Red Bull. From the get go Raikkonen was always and remains the front runner, but they want to strengthen their negotiation position as far as salary and terms of contract with Kimi, hence the Ricciardo hype train. Now I am not saying that Ricciardo couldn’t do a good job for RB, I am sure he can, but RB has to hedge their position until the end of 2015 in case Vettel leaves. Besides, another year at TR wouldn’t do him any harm, the opposite actually, it would allow him mature his race craft a bit with a view to jump in the hot seat if Kimi flops or Vettel leaves in 2015.

      1. I will always prefer two ‘roosters’ on a team and I don’t care if that makes the team managers’ life more difficult. We the fans deserve to see only the best drivers driving the best cars. It’s what we pay for. Can you imagine the extreme alternative of ALL teams having a designated number 1 and a number 2 there to not compete against the number 1. That would end F1 for me. What goes on is bad enough as it is, with some teams taking the easy way out and making the fans pay for it with lesser racing than we could have.

        It’s easy for a team to fall into the trap of life being made easier when they don’t have to decide on track who their one and two is, but the other side of the coin is that they don’t then have two drivers pushing each other to outdo each other and develope the car. And the fans pay with a lesser show.

        I will always hold more respect for WDC’s who beat strong teammates who are allowed a fair shot to compete against them in an equivalent car. Example…two opposing scenarios…one year Mac won all but one race, but we didn’t know which driver, Senna or Prost, would win on any given weekend. Intense, edge of the seat, all out racing. As opposed to MS/Ferrari…dominant…but no competition between the teammates and therefore no intensity, no excitement…the result between the teammates a foregone conclusion decided in a boardroom. No thanks.

    6. I strongly believe whether Red Bull pick a strong young driver with good prospects or the ageing Raikkonen will tell a lot about Red Bull’s long term commitment to the sport. I’m considering long term to be a decade plus.

      If they partner Raikkonen with Vettel next year it will certainly be one of the most attention grabbing, marketable and popular driver pairings in a long while. They excitement and media buzz that will be created by such an event will create a lot of free publicity for both Infiniti and Red Bull (and pepe jeans et al.). However looking down the road to 2016, Kimi will probably be considering retirement, and Seb might fancy driving a red car for a while. By 2017 Red Bull could go from two world champion drivers to (hypothetically) two rookies, or at least two drivers who have never worked for Red Bull. Raikkonen would seem to be all short term gain, with no looking to the future of the team.

      Putting a Ricciardo or Vergne in the seat at least means the team may be looking to life in F1 after Vettel. They will plan their team with driver continuity in mind, and be open to giving a young talent a chance, as they did in 2009 with Vettel. I think this approach is far more likely to bring about stability and long term success for Red Bull.

      1. You make some good points – though if I were in Horner’s shoes and I had the choice I’d go for Kimi. Neither RIC nor JEV have convinced me to be the next HAM or VET and in the end it comes down to the car. If you have a good one the WDCs will line-up to join the team.
        And it’s better to have 2 proven top drivers for a season where you’re car could be somewhere in the midfield.

  8. I thought teams were only allowed to run race drivers on the first day??

    1. @beejis60 The FIA have not set such a limit as far as I’m aware.

    2. Could someone please Inform all the drivers for each team?
      Too many drivers to keep track….and no news from some teams like Ferrari?

      1. @svarun Ferrari have announced thiers, just waiting for Caterham now.

  9. In other, related news, Jean-Erice Vergne was spotted banging his head against a wall nearby.

    1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
      16th July 2013, 10:38

      lol

      He was apparently caught doing it with Robert Frijns.

      1. Any relation to Robin Frijns? ;)

        1. Have to think what Frijins is thinking if he would have taked the offer to be in RBR YDP he will be with a chance of a drive in Toro Rosso, now Sauber is goin to have Sergei and with Esteban backing from Claro, there is no room in the team for him.

  10. JEV gets to do all the tire testing on his car, which could be a small advantage.
    I’m still on the fence between these 2 and having a different frame of reference (RIC in RB) could help to determine where they are.

    1. AFAIK Ricciardo will also run in the STR

  11. Great opportunity for Daniel. We know his hot lap pace is awesome. Will be interesting to assess long run pace in a far superior car with direct comparison to Webber and Vettel.

    1. I think Red Bull is testing Ricciardo to see if either driver in Torro Rosso is an option at all. If Ricciardo is found to be considerably slower than Mark Webber I think both Torro Rosso drivers will be removed from the list. If that happens I suspect Red Bull will do their best to get Raikkonen. If that doesn’t work out I think they will go for Hulkenberg. Smart move, get a comparison on the table when all options are still on the table.

  12. JEV had 16 points last season, while Ricciardo had 10, this season JEV has 13 while Ricciardo 11?
    Can somebody explain why Ricciardo is considered for a red bull seat and not JEV?

    1. I read somewhere, not sure where, that JEV was openly courting other teams – Lotus I think it was.

      Perhaps the Red Bull aren’t interested if he’s not.

    2. Because he gets destroyed in dry qualy by RIC, he’s just not quick enough

    3. It is a lot easier to make a fast driver consitent than it is to make a consistent driver fast.

      1. That would suggest you don’t think Vergne is fast, where as his performances in F1, WSR and F3 would suggest otherwise.
        Out scoring his older, more experienced team mate last year and so far this year, even when he’s non finished more and still Ricciardo gets the RBR test ahead of him… must be tough to take.

    4. Can somebody explain why Ricciardo is considered for a red bull seat and not JEV?

      Maybe it has something to do with Ricciardo out-qualifying Vergne 21-8 since they’ve been team mates:

      Daniel Ricciardo 2012 F1 season form guide
      Daniel Ricciardo 2013 F1 season form guide

      Qualifying may not be the whole battle but it’s a compelling indicator of raw performance.

      1. … and we know what a red bull can do from the front row …

  13. Just read a good analysis over at Autosport.com of what Danny needs to do if he want to be successful over Kimi. He has to show that he can quickly slot into the red bull and get up to speed quickly.
    I guess the big thing that can’t be measured at the young driver’s test is how he’d cope with the pressure of actually being confirmed at Red Bull.
    The expectation of scoring chunky points at every race would be a big one to deal with.

  14. Awesome, I so want RIC to get this seat! He fits the Red Bul product profile perfectly. Comes across as a base jumping, gymkhana’ing, skating, BMX’ing, moto x’ing, F1 driving kinda guy.

    The polar opposite of snore god Räikkönen.

    1. Polar opposite of maybe many of the top drivers who are not allowed to do anything to risk their health or get injured….except Raikkonen. He can and he is doing those, motocrossing, snowcrossing, seadooing, rallying etc you name it. Can’t see that polar opposite argument there.

      1. Personality – polar opposite. Räikkönen is, shall we say, quite particular. Ricciardo on the other hand comes across as affable, approachable and good natured.

        Räikkönen comes across as a person who doesn’t give a toss about anyone else but himself. I may be wrong as I don’t actually know the guy but that’s the impression I get. And I mean in general, not just from the cockpit (where for my money personality is irrelevant.)

        1. Regarding personality, yes, Raikkonen is different from any other driver in the grid. “comes across as affable, approachable and good natured” in my opinion, this suits most of the drivers on the grid, as it’s the, what I like to call, pr-molded personality. This type of personality isn’t implying as those you mentioned in your original post, doing all those sports or seemingly does. Hence I was commenting that, regardless of Raikkonen’s personality, he’s actually doing some of those in oppose to most other drivers on the grid (because they tend to be obliged by contract to avoid any sport that have risk of hurting them).

          1. TBH, I’ve no idea if Ricciardo participates in any of the ‘xtreme’ type sports such as those above that I could think of at the time.
            He just comes across as the kind of youthful, exuberant ‘devil may care’ type of character to which the Red Bull brand aspires (and is very successful in promoting.)
            Räikkönen just comes across (whether true or not) as a grumpy old fart.

            The advertisers/money people that will ultimately call the shots on all this are interested more in the public perception than in what these guys actually really get up to.

            Perception is everything here…

            Personally I think Ricciardo is absolutely a rising star. I also think Räikkönen is a fading star. Just my opinion at this point. I know who I would hire given the task…

  15. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    16th July 2013, 12:41

    Hiccup in the Raikkonen deal?

    1. Or just letting Kimi know that they would LIKE to have him but they don’t NEED to have him.

  16. Very odd how many think this is either:

    a) confirmation that Ricciardo has got the seat
    or
    b) all drivers are shooting it out for a place

    I’d say it means none of those things when you still have Raikkonen in the equation.

  17. I find the Toro Rosso situation quite interesting. There is a constant conveyer belt of young Red Bull talent coming through and although I’m no expert, I haven’t seen anything to indicate that Ricciardo or Vergne are any better than Alguersuari or Buemi. However the current two are being touted for a Red Bull seat while the other two were cast into the wilderness for seemingly outgrowing the team.

    I’d argue that all of the fuss around Ricciardo/Vergne is down to their now being an opportunity.

    Should, for arguments sake, Raikkonen take the Red Bull seat and their line-up be Vettel-Raikkonen for the next three years; do we really expect that Toro Rosso would keep Ricciardo-Vergne?

    As I say, I’m not saying Ricciardo and Vergne aren’t good, i’m just saying I don’t think they’re any better than say, Alguersuari.

    1. Indeed its all about timing and opportunity. Ricciardo has the media hype train pushing him forward as he comes across as a cool young guy. If you look at the results alone theres nothing there to suggest he is better than JEV, or indeed Buemi or Alguersuari.

      1. I’m sure RBR (and all the other teams as well) have more sophisticated means of evaluating drivers than simply counting points scored. We’ll know in a few days if they’re right, and whether Ricciardo can do lap times similar to Webber’s in the same car.

  18. So it’s down to Raikkonen or Ricciardo for the Red Bull Racing Renault seat. Ruddy ‘ell!

  19. Kinda dissapointed that JEV didn’t get a shot, but Ricciardo has certainly stepped up the last couple of races with great qualifying positions and race finishes in the STR

  20. Fight’s now between JEV and HUL to see who goes off to Lotus, then?

  21. I don’t think it’s ‘battle over’ at Toro Rosso just because Ricciardo is testing the Red Bull. There is still one race to go before the inital decision, which they say is due by the summer.

    Ricciardo clearly has the advantage Qualifying wise, but the points arent awarded on the Saturday and I think thats where JEV has an advantage. He may not be there on single lap but he has, on balance bought better results to Toro Rosso so far this season at least.

    Both drivers have scored points 3 times this season, but JEV’s form between Monaco and Canada keeps it alive I think right now. I believe if he didnt perform in those two races then by now most of us would conclude the seat is Danny’s.

    From the last 2 races it’s too early to conclude that Daniel Ricciardo is the best choice. Remember in both races JEV retired. Although, it was probable he would have been beaten in Germany. Silverstone? It was hard to say because he was on a completely different strategy to Daniel prior to his blowout.

    I think Hungary will be the most crucial weekend for both. If JEV doesn’t have the reliability issues and outperforms Daniel then I think it will go right down to what the bosses decide.

  22. we already know that Ricciardo is being considered. maybe what they meant is that this test run means that he will be the one to replace Webber.

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