Ricciado replaces Nick De Vriies

[Nitrodaze]

That went from rumor to reality fairly quickly!

I'd have to bet that Nyck wishes he took his offer at Williams now, but easy to say in hindsight. I can't blame any driver for wanting to get into the RB fold early in their career, but as with most good things it comes with risk. In this case the risk is flying too close to the sun, and once that happens things change in a hurry. Being that he was struggling to match Yuki, it became clear pretty quick that they would have an eye on him, and in the end it didn't work out. I hope he lands on his feet, though I doubt it will be in F1 any time soon.

As for RB ruthless and practical both. Now they have a benchmark to measure Daniel by, and see if he has in fact got his mojo back. He should be able to easily best Yuki and at the same time maybe help develop the car. In addition to the development help, it puts pressure on both Yuki and more importantly Sergio to get their respective acts together and drive hard to retain their seats.


I'm real interested to see how this goes down myself. Though Lando schooled him at McLaren, I do think that they had a car that was very abnormal in handling characteristics. It might have been much harder for Ric to "unlearn" things then it was for Lando to adapt to a poor car. Either way, we might find out finally. The AT doesn't seem to be much for a car, but if Daniel is back on form he should be able to at least get it in the points here and there.

It's F1, and silly season is all year, for all teams, and rarely ends up the way most of us expect.

The Alpha Tauri is probably just as bad as the Mclaren he walked away from, or should l dumped. It is also a very different car from the Redbull that he drove at the tire test. It is a big risk for Ricciardo. As he would be slower than Yuki initially as he learns the characteristics of the car. So initially, he may not do any better than Nick De Vries. It comes down to how quickly he can get up to pace with Yuki. Then it would be a matter of whether he can dominate his young teammate with his experience and skill.

It could backfire big time if Yukii makes a step up in the interim such that Ricciardo is beaten every race weekend for the remainder of the season. Ricciardo has gambled his reputation by taking this deal. Hence he may not recover if Yuki makes him look ordinary.

Yuki on the other hand, seems to be improving considerably every race weekend. In that car, he cannot shine as he is fighting at the back of the grid. But l think Ricciardo would be in for a surprise if he thinks Yuki would be an easy challenge. If he does tame Yuki, he would repair most of the damage done at Mclaren and would put enormous pressure on Perez for 2024.

On Nick De Vries, l think he was not treated fairly. Apparently, he was given four races to prove himself. He got dumped after two of those races. A man has to be good for his word else what is his word worth really? I think he would land on his feet. He is an exceptional racer, he took a chance on a bad car and struggled against Yuki that has over two years of experience with that car. And got more support and patience from the team than him. He would be an asset to any team with a decent car. So l think he would be back.