Daniel Riccardo

[PTRACER]

Just a little personal quiz for you. How many races has Daniel Ricciardo won? Has he won any races? The answer surprised me.

Anyway, the point of this thread is to discuss Danny Ric. He's been in F1 since 2011. He was a Friday driver for Toro Rosso and then made his race debut for HRT mid season (which I don't remember at all)

Fast forward in time. He's completed 10 seasons already and not looking like championship winning material. I don't think he has come close yet. But he's not looking like a solid number 2 either (like if you compare Bottas to Hamilton...it feels fine to criticise the Finn, but not good to put down Danny Ric)

The problem with Danny is it is hard to put anything about him into words for me. How would you evaluate him as a driver?

[erwin greven]

He came at the right time in RBR. But he will be a driver who had to face the same problems several drivers had when Michael Schumacher dominated F1.
He defeated Sebastian Vettel and it looked promising. But then the reign of Hamilton started and the RBR car was never world championships material.

[Ruslan]

I have always considered Ricciardo to be one of those drivers I considered to be the fourth best in F1 (along with Perez). The problem with being the fourth best driver in F1 is that the three best are usually driving for Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. That kind of leaves the 4th best driver without a proper place. Does he serve as the #2 on one of the big teams, or does he lead an uncompetitive team where he can be the team leader. To Daniel's credit he did the later. I think serving as #2 is kind of soul sapping and sucks the life out of a driver.

Will Daniel ever win a championship? If he was the team leader for one of the big three teams, then yes....I am sure he could. But as a team owner, would you rather have Hamilton or Ricciardo, would you rather have Verstappen or Ricciardo, would you rather have Vettel/Leclerc or Ricciardo? This has been his problem. He is a very good driver, but with only three teams that have a chance to win a championship, he does not have a home. On the other hand if McLaren rises to the occasion in 2022....

[White six]

Well, he's getting thoroughly trounced by Norris. Hopefully won't be quite as smug and annoying on next year's DTS

[XcraigX]

I think at one time (2014-2015) he was the number 2 driver. I've always rated him higher than Vettel (head to head) and Rosberg. The pattern he was exhibiting in his first years with RBR was very similar to what Hamilton used to due in the off years at McLaren. He was winning races in an inferior car on a regular basis. Was he as good as Hamilton or better? Maybe I can believe the first, but I highly doubt the latter.
He had a bit of a driving edge on Max the first two seasons, but Max always had the phycological edge re-enforced by a bit more team support. Their crash at Baku was a great indicator of this. Daniel was faster than Max, but Max was successful in blocking him lap after lap and then let Daniel take the blame for the accident. Him leaving the team allowed Max to continue to improve his driving as the team leader and become the #2 overall driver he is today. I think if he had stayed it would be a bit closer (like they would fight for #2 status overall).
Leaving the RBR may have been the right choice, but joining Renault was a huge mistake. It wasted 2 years of his personal development, and allowed the recruitment spotlight to be on other drivers at better teams. Newer rookies have come into developing teams and shined when Daniel could not (LeClerc and Norris especially). Being in this comfort zone has also made them much better drivers. I now believe they have passed up Daniel in skill (and have better reflexes because they are younger.)
He will eventually match Norris, but it may take all year. Norris knows the car infinitely better and he is just working on improving his racecraft at this point. Daniel missed his window. Had he signed with McLaren instead of Renault back in 2019, I think things would have gone more his way. He needed a good developing team to rise up with and we would be seeing a different side of him now. If it had been Lando and Danny as teammates at McLaren from 2019, Danny would be beating Lando.

In summary, Daniel made the wrong move to a team that was not going to get much better and allow him to improve or collect attention from the top teams. Alesi is a good parallel for Ricciardo.

[MonteCristo]

Best of the rest...

Not a Hamilton.

Close to Max, but not close enough (could argue the team gave Max more... but can't really fault them for that).

As good or better than Leclerc? Hard to say. Gut says Charles would be better if they were teammates, but I don't think they'd be world's apart.

I rate him ahead of the likes of Perez though, and he put Vettel in his place. Too early to say with Norris definitively, but clearly they're similar.

[Ruslan]

Well, he's getting thoroughly trounced by Norris. Hopefully won't be quite as smug and annoying on next year's DTS

Well, we shall see if that lasts. Lets look at some teammate comparisons for a moment:

1. Hulkenberg was a match for Perez when they were teammates.
2. Ocon was a match for Perez the second season they were teammates.
3. Ricciardo kind of stomped Ocon last season.
4. Ricciardo kind of stomped Hulkenburg the season before last.
5. Hulkenberg did noticeably better than Sainz the season they were teammates.
6. Norris was a match for Sainz last season.

So, exactly what is the pecking order here?

[caneparo]

Just a little personal quiz for you. How many races has Daniel Ricciardo won? Has he won any races? The answer surprised me.

Anyway, the point of this thread is to discuss Danny Ric. He's been in F1 since 2011. He was a Friday driver for Toro Rosso and then made his race debut for HRT mid season (which I don't remember at all)

Fast forward in time. He's completed 10 seasons already and not looking like championship winning material. I don't think he has come close yet. But he's not looking like a solid number 2 either (like if you compare Bottas to Hamilton...it feels fine to criticise the Finn, but not good to put down Danny Ric)

The problem with Danny is it is hard to put anything about him into words for me. How would you evaluate him as a driver?

I think he won 8 races. A good driver but was never able to drive the best car neither able to elevate his team to be the best, (if it’s still possible that a driver could do in this current uncompetitive formula 1).
His speed is not exceptional but he coped this lack with great racing skills. His start at macca seems a bit of a struggle, but i kinda expected given his teammate is very very good. He’s an expert driver he’s past 30yo. This is a career turning point for him. He might come back or go downhill. Personally I never liked his antics and social image, it seems too forced to me to look like the circus joker. Same thing of Lando

[Kai-Star]

I saw this topic thread a few days ago. I thought about it and it is very relevant to this season. While I didn't expect too much from Ricciardo when he first came into F1, and it was close between he and Vergne for the Red Bull seat, he then suddenly was consistently beating Vettel in 2014 and it made me a believer. He's still the only teammate Max has been competitive with, but Max started to really get the upper hand in the end. He is probably behind Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc (disregarding Alonso who is 40 this year) in the pecking order. Not sure how much Lando has progressed or how good Russell will be yet. The main thing is Daniel is 31 and with his current experience he should be at the top of his game. The next few years are his chance to win a title but if McLaren isn't going to mould the car to his liking I can see that chance disappear.

[Picci]

I actually think he's better than what he's made out to be. He reminds me a bit of Button in the way he drives, which is smooth and clean and doesn't get into trouble. And then he's a late breaker, which makes him really cool. Like I said in the other thread I think he's struggling to settle in like all other drivers who switched teams this year. If McLaren get stronger next season it will definitely get more interesting and I expect him to be more in the mix.

[PTRACER]

Yeah, he really made his name in previous seasons as the last of the late-brakers didn't he? I am hoping the reason for his drop in pace this year is because he needs time to get used to the car/team, but I expected him to have better results than this already.

But that said, even with his performances last year, I am feeling that he is past his peak now. If he was team mates with the other drivers mentioned, there is no doubt he would be second to Hamilton, second to Max, second to Leclerc but probably ahead of Vettel because who isn't these days...?

And the answer is 7. Riccardo has won 7 races. Last time was in 2018. I really don't remember any of those victories.

[Everso Biggyballies]

And the answer is 7. Riccardo has won 7 races. Last time was in 2018. I really don't remember any of those victories.

I remember his Monaco win.... he had the team throw away a win with a failed pit stop of some sort one year (2016?) then two years later he led the race from pole before something failed on his energy recovery or similar and he basically did a Bernoldi for a lot of laps to hang on for the win. ISTR the car was good on most of the lap but dreadful on a certain part so the lead would see-saw over a lap as he pulled a gap and then lost it all in cycles.

I also remember him winning in Canada. (Maybe his first win?) He passed one of the Mercs (Nico I think) with a couple of laps to go and then the final lap was under SC.

[XcraigX]

He seems to be very good at the most twisty tracks. Hungaroring, Monaco, China. He also won at Malaysia famously when Lewis's engine failed. But he was a regular podium finisher at these tracks even when he didn't win while driving for RedBull.
Funny enough, he is the record holder for F1 drivers at the Top Gear Track (beating Hamilton) in the Suzuki Liana. (F1 Star in a reasonably priced car)

[PTRACER]

Here we go. Danny RIC's 7 wins. Actually even watching this I feel like the racing has deteriorated compared to 3-5 years ago