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I've had the same thoughts for a while now. As you mention, it is hard to get on with the job when you don't know what tomorrow holds for you. Their policy of giving as many young drivers as possible a chance is a good one, but it does also affect them. But, they did launch Seb into the limelight and he's never looked back :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DexDexter
I agree, he has not stood to me that much, like Alonso, Kimi & Seb did in his early career.Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
True enough, its going to be a tough step up that could end up in a Webber style collapse.Quote:
Originally Posted by Parabolica
True enough, I mean Seb is the perfect example of how Toro Rosso can work for Red Bull. Thus youngsters need oppotunities and he has a great chance, he musnt let it slip away.Quote:
Originally Posted by 555-04Q2
A short biography of Daniel Ricciardo:
Karting from age 9 to 16 with victories in numerous state and national championships.
Drove Formula Ford in Perth, Australia.
Winner of Formula BMW Asia Pacific Scholarship.
Competed in Formula BMW Asian Championship, finishing third in the series with 2 race wins, 1 pole position and 12 podium finishes in 19 starts.
Formula BMW World Final, Valencia, Spain, finishing fifth with Fortec team. Presented with Outstanding Achievement Award by BMW Motorsport chief Dr Mario Thiessen.
Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Championship with RP Motorsport.
Selected for Red Bull Junior Team 2008
Formula Renault 2.0 West European Championship series winner - 8 race wins, 9 pole positions, 11 podium finishes.
Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup series runner-up - 6 race wins, 5 poles, 7 podiums
British Formula 3 Championship winner with Carlin Motorsport - 7 race wins, 6 poles, 12 podiums
Having followed in the footsteps of the likes of Ayrton Senna in winning the British F3 title, I was chosen by Red Bull Racing to participate in an end-of-season F1 test for rookies at Jerez in Spain, where I clocked the fastest time of the test. My performance earned me the role as test and reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2010.
World Series by Renault 3.5 Championship with Tech 1 - series record 8 pole positions, 4 race wins - including the prestigious support race at the Monaco Grand Prix - and 8 podiums to be overall runner-up.
Reserve driver Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso
I began the year driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Friday morning F1 practice sessions at GPs and racing again in the World Series by Renault 3.5 Championship for the ISR team, winning the Monaco Grand Prix support race for the second consecutive time.
Mid-year I was elevated to F1 race driver with the HRT team, for which I drove in 11 GPs. While gaining valuable GP racing experience, I continued my duties with Red Bull Racing, including many hours "driving" its F1 simulator at the team's headquarters in Milton Keynes, England.
Red Bull Racing named me in December as a full-time race driver for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2012.
(lifted from DR website)
Additional:
Ricciardo made his track debut at the wheel of a Formula One car, when he tested for Red Bull Racing at the young drivers test at Circuito de Jerez over three days, from 1–3 December 2009. On the final day of testing he clocked the fastest time of the test by over a second. This placed him as the only driver to go into the 1:17 bracket. Red Bull Racing's team manager Christian Horner suggested that Ricciardo may replace his 2010 World Series team-mate Hartley as the team's test and reserve driver. As it turned out, Ricciardo and Hartley were to share test and reserve duties for both Red Bull, and sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso until the latter was removed from the Red Bull Junior team.
On 11 November 2010, Ricciardo was confirmed as the single driver to represent Red Bull Racing at the end-of-season young drivers test at the Yas Marina Circuit, on 16–17 November. At the announcement, he commented, "I can't wait to get another crack at driving Red Bull Racing's amazing Formula One car." Ricciardo continued to show his one-lap prowess and dominated the event. With his fastest lap being 1.3 seconds faster than 2010 World Champion Sebastian Vettel's qualifying lap the Saturday before. (lifted from Wikipedia - my emphasis)
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So, not really done enough to impress? Doesn't deserve a crack at a decent car? Hmm...
And no spurious comparisons to SV - the STR car he had the fortune to inherit was a Newey car, and he is also a prodigious talent (This is high praise from me, as I don't rate him as a racer, but he can cut very fast laps with no interference).
I think any team might look at DR's history and (stupid financial concerns aside) snap him up! The usual disclaimer applies here :vader:
Not as good a CV as Liuzzi had pre-F1, and look how that turned out.
It was obvious Vettel had quality, not so with Ricciardo.
Comparing lap times on different days, with different tyres? Please forgive me, but that is a spurious comparison in itself?
Back to the topic of the thread.
Will there be any opportunity for this years GP2 front-runners?
It was a shame for Sam Bird that he was the innocent victim of Mercedes GP's tyre-test punishment. I can't see anywhere for the current front-runners other than maybe Marrussia though.
Speaking of which.. is there any hope still left for Massa in F1 if Raikkonen moves to Ferrari? I heard he could be a good fit for Lotus. Any ideas?
I seriously think Massa lost something with the accident, because each season he has been incapable of putting in more than 3-4 strong drives and has big problems with any kind of consistency, more so than ever before. Hülkenberg fits Lotus better.
I see retirement for Massa. By F1 standards he isn't really that old yet (32), but then again Ralf Schumacher retired at 32 and Häkkinen at 33 too. Villeneuve got booted from BAR and out of F1 (though for one season only) at 32. All of them left after an underwhelming season.
Massa's only hope is bringing some money back to Sauber.Other than that I see him leaving F1.
I think you are correct re the aftermath of the accident, I don't think many (if any) of us quite realise how bad the accident was and how much it possibly damaged Massa's psyche and confidence.Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
The crucial break in Massa's career wasn't the accident, it was the 2010 German Grand Prix. He started 2010 with two podium positions, so he didn't lose much of his speed in the aftermath of the accident IMHO. What completely destroyed him was being ordered back from the lead, even though team orders were forbidden at the time. He never recovered from that humiliation. Ferrari broke his will in that race. Since then he knew that he would never be allowed to win a race again as long as Fernando was still in the race.Quote:
Originally Posted by jens