No offence, but overall I see Ferrari as being the easiest team mate for him to tackle: Mad Max is the hot property, he and his ego knows it, so do the team. Rightly or wrongly he absolutly belives he is the best thing ever. He also did an end run around Ricciardo by signing his contract so early. Mercedes is 100% behind LCH and despite, or because of, his interests outside F1 seems to be able to pull 110% out of the bag when under pressure and simply deliver beyond expectations. Seb, even though he currently looks to be set longer at Ferrari than Lewis is at Mercedes (thoughts of post F1 carrer are evident for LCH) is the easiest for Ricciardo to rattle. First he's done it before when they were at RB. Second, you can argue that reliability cost Seb the WDC last year, but his own meltdowns cost him just as many points. I think he is the easiest driver for Daniel to come in and undermine and build himself up as the next #1.
Its clear he does not run the team at all. Sergio is betting on performance and either driver is expendable, certainly Kimi. He has been put on notice. Ricci fits right in. If Vettel does not want that he is just a coward and not a competitor. He ran from Ricci once so why not again. Vettel is right there with Kimi...over rated. Then add Vettel's mental control issues. Yes such a superb driver. He has an amazing self destructive tendancy that was on display at Red Bull and has grown at Ferrari. Calm and cool. Not words for Vettel. Ive been 'over' Vettel since his absurd Mexico melt down. Last year at Baku was the bonus.
I agree re Vettel's melt down issues. Disappointing to see that still continue. Having said that, and I know you will disagree , I rate Vettel (a 4x WDC) higher than a zero WDC Ricci who clearly can't handle Max. Ferrari isn't in the business of taking on other teams number 2 drivers as their new number 1. They also aren't a team who historically like having equal status drivers (hence why Kimi still has a job despite being well passed his best). The only way this changes is if Ricci hands it to Max this year, Vettel self destructs and leaves, and Ricci steps into his seat. Not impossible, but highly unlikely. I think he's more likely to jump to McLaren once Alonso throws his toys out of the pram and leaves.
I can see where DF1 is coming from with Vettel. I still rate Vettel highly but Ric is not far behind. IMO Ricciardo would score the same points as Vettel. Vettel is certainly the hardest working driver in F1 but I agree, mentally he's weaker than the other top runners. IMO Hamilton is weak mentally also, BUT, he hasn't really been rattled much due to the superiority of his car over the last few seasons...Vettel on the other hand was in the slower car and desperately tries everything to get ahead, and I do understand his frustrations when something *again* goes against him, so I don't really hold some of his frustrations against him. Roles reversed I think most drivers would show a decent amount of frustration also. Ferrari buying Ricciardo or Max would be their best next long term bet. But it's irrelevant so long they don't have a great car yet. A sacking culture will not do Ferrari any favours. Top seats are hard to come by, even for the top drivers. Don't want that reputation.
We will soon know how competitive they will be .If they get off to a flying start Ricci will most likely sign up for at least next year ,however if they are 'only' a solid No3 then he would be crazy not to open talks with Ferrari. If Leclerc adapts quickly to F1 then he will get his chance eventually,in the meantime Ricci would be a good replacement for Kimi,who can't go on forever,much as we all luv him.
Unless Leclerc really is as good as he has been in lower leagues, I can't see Ferrari taking him as soon as next year...they normally evaluate a driver over a number of seasons instead of just the one. IMO it will be between Ric and Kimi for 2019. One thing we know for sure is that Ricciardo will NOT sign for a year, whereas Kimi will (in case Ferrari wants an extra year on Leclerc)
+1 as a distinct possibility. Vettel may not like it and can offer his opinion. The team will decide. He should have no fear of Ricci but accept the challenge if it is offered.
I remain of the opinion that it's just not wise to have 2 #1's in a team fighting for the title. Yes if you have an ever dominating car like the Mercedes, that's different...but such a car is very rare. Imagine Ferrari losing points because of the intra team battle and lewis snatching another title from under their nose?
If I had to bet, I will say Ric has more points than Max at the end of the season. Ric is the better driver.
Nice interview/insight with Ricci here - http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/22848737/why-2018-daniel-ricciardo-big-year-f1
No way. Max already showed last season who's the boss, even on Ricc own playing ground; qualifying. Ricc. had a lucky escape due to all the technical problems both suffered from making it somewhat of an even battle.
Ricci could replace Alonzo at McLaren and at least start from scratch with a once legendary team that has fallen on equally hard times. Maybe Alonzo can get on Dancing with the Stars.
Ricciardo is my favorite driver on the grid, so please take this biased thought with skepticism, but I think he is trying to get Bottas’ seat. His comments today about any of the top drivers could do what Lewis has done in the Mercedes were strategic to possible force Lewis to accept a strong teammate mext year to prove it is Lewis and not just the car. Let’s face it Bottas is not a threat and he did not exactly blow away and over the hill Massa at Williams. I don’t think staying at Red Bull is smart as there is a fair chance that they will be stuck with the boat anchor Honda PU next year. As much as I would prefer to see him in the Ferrari next year, Mercedes has been the most dominant team in F1 history since the PU change in 2014. I don’t think that Ricciardo really cares who his teammate is, he truly is the honey badger. For those that say it is Lewis’ tream, McLaren was Lauda’s team untill Prost got there, then it was Prost’s team until Senna got there, Schumacher took the Bennetton team from Piquet, the list goes on and on. Once the number 1 is beaten thew new guy takes over, particularly if he works harder and treats the mechanics well. The Eagles had a great song New Kid in Town, that is so true in F1.
Ricci used to race in Italy and has dual citizenship, he knows how to say his surname correctly but he prefers to say it the "Australian" way, that's the way he said it growing up and what his friends call him. Most Americans butcher Italian anyway, every time I hear an american trying to speak Italian I cringe. Anyway back to Ricci's future. I hope he joins Ferrari but if he stays @ RBR he will turn into Webber 2.0
Here you go. His Italian is good enough to get by @ 3min mark he talks about living in Italy for 2 years
Haha 'if you went to Ferrari team what would you ' he pretended not to understand. I hope he signs for 2019.The italian media would luv him .
English speakers have a hard time with any language that requires intense inflections, as English is very mechanically efficient. No facial contortions or guttural sounds required. I learned to read French in school, but could never do justice to the inflections. Swedish, OTOH, was super easy for me to pick up. I even started getting the accent right after a while.
Well Vettel says he would welcome Ricci...and that he has no say in driver choice https://www.crash.net/f1/news/892469/1/vettel-open-welcoming-ricciardo-teammate-again
Remains to be seen. I still don't see the point of having 2 #1 drivers unless you've got a car that's head and shoulders above the rest. I'd love to see Ricciardo at Ferrari.
