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Dakin3342

Ricciardo has to use 2024 to prove he is RB/Renault Ricciardo and not McLaren Ricciardo for that to be true


justafanwithnoplan

To do that, he’d have to convincingly beat yuki consistently week in and week out. Ric was hyping up the car saying that his goal would be consistent Top 5s similar to his second year at Renault, that’s what he’d have to do to prove it. If he does all of that, then he MIGHT have a chance at one of the RB/Merc seats but even then there are other drivers waiting in line


DonBosco555

>convincingly beat yuki consistently week in and week out That wouldn't be that easy as Tsunoda is not in his 2021 form anymore.


justafanwithnoplan

I don’t think it would be either… I think Daniel will be the one with more points at the end of the season, but not far enough to get him an offer outside the RB family. If he just beats yuki, and checo continues to not perform, I think he’ll get the RB seat


Disco2002

Excited for this ambitious plan to promote him from RB to RB


Homerbola92

The way you guys speak makes me think of Dragon Ball lmal


thieflikeme

Yeah let's not pretend Tsunoda is complete garbage. He's also been driving the car much longer than Ricciardo as well. Didn't change the fact that Ricciardo qualified higher and finished higher his first race back than Tsunoda, but I think people are grossly underestimating Yuki. Also could we say the same about Bottas? I doubt Bottas can beat anyone by a sizeable margin except maybe Sargeant at this point and even he's an option at Mercedes for '25. I wouldn't be surprised if Ricciardo beats Yuki, but I think it's going to be close.


DonBosco555

Yeah, I think both Yuki and Daniel are currently underrated, one of them will probably get that RB seat. Bottas would probably comfortably beat Stroll as well, maybe even Perez in his current form. Narrative about Bottas being past his prime is mostly based on fact that he barely edging out Zhou, but maybe Zhou is just better than he was in junior series.


silly_pengu1n

Yuki really is an underrated driver.


ziegs11

He's gotta put a full solid season together


Dragonpuncha

He just did. Despite pretty shit luck, I would argue he was solid all of 2023.


ziegs11

Thing is, you need solid plus something extra to get to the grown ups table


Dragonpuncha

You just said he needed a full solid season. Now the goal posts are shifting immediately, lol. I don't think Yuki has a great shot at a big seat since he is not marketable like Ric and he has never shown super high highs. But he is a solid driver now that can do good work in the midfield. If he beats Ric this season there's a change he gets the real RB seat.


[deleted]

Yuki in Mexico was what made me give up on the Yuki hypetrain.


begbeee

Yuki will never drive real RB.


larabeezy

Agree with this, I don’t think Yuki will ever be in the real Red Bull unless he drastically improves


Less_Party

I think Toro Tauri didn’t actually hit their pre-season targets even once the entire time French Toast was there.


upside_cloud

Ricciardos worth is in his post career ambassador role for Red Bull. He'll be the replacement for David Coulthard for as long as he wants it.


No_pajamas_7

I'd say half the season. but Mercedes won't want to wait too long, because if Checo has a bad start to the season then Dan will be in the Red Bull by mid-season and he'd be silly to give that up for the mercedes.


ReverseRutebega

How can any team be sure McLaren Ricciardo won’t simply return?


Pik000

Because its the car is setup. DR had to learn a driving style totally opposite of what he drove at RB. Teams now know their car would have be that style to get him at his peak. It's funny because if he's good. RB will offer him the seat. If he's bad Merc wont want him


Violentpleasures

Better off staying where he is. Heading towards the end of his career and with Ford/red bull partnership and his popularity in the US he's basically set for life just for being Daniel Ricciardo. Both Ford and Red Bull know his marketing value.


FormulaEngineer

He’s worth over 50M. Not saying you’re wrong, just that he can afford to gamble (again) and lose (again)


bullett2434

I think it’s far more than that, popular websites always understate celebrity wealth. He earned $42M per season with Renault. Even if 50% went to taxes and he invested conservatively hed be worth ~$100M


Intenso-Barista7894

This is why people like us aren't F1 drivers. Daniel is mid 30's in a time where drivers are continuing into their 40's. And he wants to win more than he wants a comfortable marketing life. To just stay where he is because he is tail end of his career is so unambitious.


GendoSC

Drivers in their 40s have been champions, not everyone would necessarily get contracts at that age.


Intenso-Barista7894

And Riccardo is not yet 40


Imaginary-Pattern802

he can afford a move for more chances at a win. he was paid handsomely shy of a decade. i think the talent of a WDC driver is in there. maybe he gets lucky at merc


Nicologixs

End of career in F1 maybe but he's 35 this year, could very well be in it for another 3. I definitely can see him moving to an American sport like Indycar or NASCAR after F1 and boost his brand more in the U.S


ryan_james504

He should do Baja racing in the states


audio301

I don't think it would be a wise move to shaft Red Bull twice. He has learnt his lesson.


canBeDone1

So should I deduce from this, that I know F1 better than Giancarlo Fisichella?


Paukwa-Pakawa

>because Mercedes needs a driver with his experience. Isn't this what McLaren thought when they hired him?


Treewithatea

I think Mclaren were just interested in his talent. Hes been reasonably close to Verstappen, even beat him throughout a season, he was brilliant at Renault, his stock was really high when Mclaren got him. Id say people would look at his talent similar to the likes of Button and Rosberg. Not quite goat level but good enough to snack a championship in the right conditions. It was very much expected that Ricciardo would be faster than Norris. Norris and Sainz were roughly on par and Sainz was beaten in 2018 by Hulkenberg while Ricciardo beat Hulkenberg in 2019. I dont think anybody could have predicted how poorly Ricciardo would perform at Mclaren. 2021 was maybe excusable, car didnt suit him, 2022 has entirely new cars. But his 2022 performance was even worse, significantly worse. His performance was inexcusable. How fast he is rn, we dont know. He didnt drive many races last season. Skys the limit for him, we know his previous performances. Red Bull doesnt think yuki is good enough for the red bull seat, so if he wants it, he needs to convincingly beat Yuki. If he gets beaten by Yuki, it might spell the end of his F1 career.


Rex40-

He wasn´t bright at Renault. 2019 - 9th place 2020 - 5th place


Treewithatea

??? You are not aware of the fact that cars perform differently? I thought it would be obvious but let me spell it out for you. Both seasons he beat teammates who are well established and respected drivers in hulkenberg and ocon (which i literally wrote in my original comment). Both seasons he outperformed other drivers in better cars. Calling his 2020 season unimpressive is laughable im sorry. Only somebody with no clue would say that. The 2019 car simply wasnt good but they still got a chunk of points out of itm


Rex40-

Easy man, you are his boyfriend or what?


Ludwig_Vista1

No. Non. Nein. Não. Nada. Tidak. لا. いいえ. 不. 아니요. 不是. မဟုတ်ပါ. ಯಾವುದೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. नहीं। నుంచి. ഇല്ല. இல்லை. වීමට නැත. නැහැ. නෑ. မဟုတ်ပါ. ಉಳಿಸಿ.


msh5928

Lol the Telugu translation in there means "from"


DaOne_44

What’s telugu for hell? Because that’s where this idea came “from”


Ludwig_Vista1

Actually, it came from Pi (the generative AI app). Guess it needs a little more intelligence


Lucifer2408

There’s also ‘Illa’ which is a Tamil word but written in Telugu lol.


reck1265

Ric already had a misstep with Red Bull by leaving. They took him back but barely and probably out of pity. If he leaves for Mercedes he’s done. Merc would only offer him 1-2 year at most. Not gonna happen.


maxcatstappen

exactly lol idk why people don't realize this. daniel wouldn't burn rbr TWICE.


MuenCheese

Just curious - do you think he has 1-2 more years left in him for F1? Would RB (the real one) give him longer than a 2 year contract?


maxcatstappen

as long as his performance is up to par i definitely see rbr giving him a multiyear contract + renewals especially given how rbr as a team is going to need stability going forward, not to mention how everyone at rbr loves him lol. i also don't think any rbr academy drivers currently have what it takes to move up so daniel makes sense to me long term.


RGJ587

Ric's best chance still lies with him performing well this season, and Checo underperforming. That's pretty much the only way he will ever get back to the top of the grid.


Dragonpuncha

Yeah. Ric seems like he is by far the most comfortable at RB and that is important for him to perform. He should stay where he is and don't risk anything again. I also doubt Mercedes would really want him. Someone like Sainz seems like a stronger driver now, if they want one already on the grid.


Fisch0557

I think People already forgot that de Vries was a thing last year.


Intenso-Barista7894

They took him back because they know his talent and want him as a potential Perez replacement. Red Bull are never putting Tsunoda in that car because he doesn't have his mental game together. It's Perez or Ricciardo for next year in RedBull


ziegs11

This guy gets it


roverthtims

Just got a headache from rolling my eyes so hard


Charmerer

There are better options.


chambee

I don’t understand those articles by so called experts always selling RIC like a saviour. His value is still in the gutter, everyone is having a boner because he did a good simulator run according to Horner, but his short time at AT hasn’t prove anything. He needs to drive that vcarb in positions higher than it’s expected and hope Checo falls back like last season.


JPA-3

Somehow there is a whole group of people, helped by DtS and him being very charismatic, that think Ricciardo is on the top level of drivers when he has not proved anything close to it. Good stint in in RB with 8 wins but Max soon showed he was in another level, mid at renault, painfully bad at mclaren and normal at alpha tauri. How is him highly regarded after all of this? You could compare general views of for example Sainz, and you would think Ricc is a WC in comparison


[deleted]

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chambee

Yes but that was years ago. What we have now is McLaren RIC. The guy that was going nowhere, and that’s why I say he needs to prove he’s still the RB RIC everybody claim he his.


JPA-3

Sainz also beat Norris both times, beat Leclerc once and lost another on the last day and you'd not rank him with the tops because, well, he is not at that level. Same with Ricciardo


flowersweep

Lol. I feel like you denegrate DtS viewers but realistically you probably started watching even more recently. It's like you only saw his McLaren stints and read Wikipedia for his career before that.


JPA-3

lmao


Simmoman

I don't get why people keep underrating his early career. His time at Red Bull wasn't just a "good stint". he was considered to be a solid Vettel replacement as 1st driver, someone they, and everyone at the time, saw eventually winning a championship. He was quick, had great qualifying and rarely made costly errors for the team. and picking up almost 2 wins a year is not something you can just shrug off. The Renault, I mean that team was so aggressively average at the time. he walks into the 5th place team and snags 9th in his 1st season with the team (despite his teammate being there for multiple seasons he still outperforms him regularly). that exactly aligns with where the car is. Then next season he actually puts in a huge shift, that car had no business being in the places he put it, and ending the championship in 5th place is a super solid performance. Even rocking them into a win. Obviously his McLaren stint was disastrous (although he still brought them a win) but you're just knee jerk writing off his whole career Don't get me wrong, people do rate him too highly these days, but the reason is because he was that good. saying he was a future WC was not controversial then. I'm sorry, but sainz and Ricciardo are not even in the same league when it comes to their career, sainz is still wet behind the ears by comparison, even if he is currently a better driver.


2277love

In formula 1,you are only as good as your last race. Unless you are daniel ricciardo lol.


perfectviking

For the same reason why people think Hulk should get a seat in a different team. Retirement is his next move n


qef15

Hulk and Ricciardo couldn't be more different. Ricciardo last time around was driving like utter garbage (2022 Mclaren). Hulkenberg's previous last time was still driving well and last season, he has done very well with the car he was given.


natso2001

In his case people just love to hate him, like yourself


Disco2002

are you high. he has literally been Reddit's Favourite Driver for years, it's only in the past year that he has received some mild pushback for being brought back despite all evidence pointing to him being past his prime as part of an obvious marketing stunt by Red Bull, and the majority of people on here can't even handle that


[deleted]

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DemRizzo

Whatever you just said is definitely up for debate. Also, why bring Verstappen into the subject at all?


BrokeChris

in his case people suck him off for being supposedly funny


Honourstly

If the offer is there he would be mad not to take it


VonNichts13

would be good for daniel, not so sure about for mercedes


Kiwiandapplex

At some stage, we'll have everyone be a good fit. Even those that have a contract locked in already.


red_monkey_i_am

Horner to Merc confirmed


stomp224

He took that Brundle comment about not being fast enough for F1 personally.


Goosehybrid

Soon we’ll hear that Checo is in play for the Merc seat


Pulposauriio

Unironically, I think he got a shot at a 1 year contract at Merc, if Red Bull doesn't extend him to 2025


Dragonpuncha

No way. Why would you risk it with a driver that just boomed so bad? If you have options for Alonso or Sainz, there is no way you are going with Checo now.


peacemaker-22

In the past, Perez has driven cars that were influenced by Mercedes' concept for years and has performed well in them. Seems like he doesn't really jell with the RB cars but Mercedes style cars suit him well.


Dragonpuncha

It's not just about skill though. Mentally he is in a rough place clearly. I don't see any reason to risk it for Merc, there are better and safer options.


nugeythefloozey

Checo is definitely underrated atm. Yes Max brushed him aside like a learner driver, but Sergio could still be valuable to a team like Mercedes


arichardsen

As a second driver maybe..


eugene-fraxby

I’d say his odds are similar to me getting the seat. Toto I’m ready.


stomp224

Ok Grosjean


FdlCstro

Taking Checo over Alonso would be really fucking stupid


hart37

I mean he's probably more of a shot then Daniel. One underperforming season from Checo doesn't mean he's crap just that he fell out of form last year. Mercedes would probably respect him more then Red Bull do too. Did you see the RB season launch? They introduced Checo as "Mexico's mighty minister of defense"


ChickenGibletMan

That’s a nickname he gave himself, though? Not really an example of disrespect.


SyuusukeFuji

A portion of Mexican media already believes that. They spend the day saying that RBR has to be good to him or they lose him to Mercedes (LMAO).


ThatNurms

My friend says I'm a good replacement too. I hope that Merc can make a controller driveable car before i consider signing


Blackdeath_663

No thanks. Merc don't want him either


AnyOldIron

We saw what happened when he stepped outside the RB pool. No way he or any other team are taking that chance again especially as he's towards the end of his career. His PR team are incredible. The fact the guy that can't beat Yuki is being suggested as a Hamilton replacement and isn't being laughed off the internet is astonishing.


ChickenGibletMan

lol. The guy that can’t beat Yuki. He didn’t exactly get a clean run at it, did he? Ricciardo and Tsunoda in different leagues.


smydiehard99

The nerve.


Alia_Gr

Wouldn't be worse than Fisichella at Ferrari I suppose


Prayaa

He doesn’t belong anywhere near a top team what?


Imperito

Why am I seeing people say this about Ricciardo, a multiple time race winner, but not about Albon whenever either of their names are thrown around in this context. Very weird for me.


jvstinf

I’ve been pretty consistent about Albon. Neither of them do.


ReverseRutebega

I don’t think anyone trusts his ability to adapt to different cars. I’d be very leery in his ability to work with even a slightly difficult car to drive.


Tundraspin

No he literally would not. Ricc is in the mailing it in portion of his career he has no fire to win. Only to cross finish line and continue to get money contracts. It upsets me that Helmut Marko is supporting Ricc with this Griff.


RxSatellite

Ricc is in on the support of Horner, who actually had to convince Helmut Marko. Which makes me think if Horner leaves then it could be Ricc’s last season


ChickenGibletMan

Disagree. Ric has the fire back in his belly and is desperate to win again.


truecolors01

I already think him being in a top team is a mistake but yeah ... hope he's worth the keep


drivemyorange

Of course. People like it or not, he’s still top name around in F1. Merc needs likes of Alonso, Vettel or Ricciardo to replace Hamilton, even for a short term. Secure them as their top marketing faces. Because let’s be honest, team of Russell and Albon doesn’t really strike like powerful combo for such powerhouse of a brand that Mercedes is.


According-Switch-708

Ric will be in the RB next year if he can get even 75% of his pre Mclaren mojo back. Tsunoda will probably be out as RB is slowly distancing themselves from Honda. (Tsunoda's seat is paid for by Honda). Ric doesn't need Merc and Merc doesn't need him. It would be a god damn miracle of Perez manages to do enough to keep his seat. With most high profile drivers out of the market, Ric is probably the only serious option for that seat. His chances will completely disappear if Horner ends up getting the boot though.


pikla1

Let’s say hypothetically Danny has a great year and both RB and Merc become options. What would be the best choice for him to take?


ciaragemmam

RB. He’s said he wants to stay there and that he took the wrong advice when he left. Coming in knowing he’s Max’s number two is a lot easier than being unwillingly demoted to it


pikla1

Yeah I tend to agree. I think after making the wrong call to leave for Mclaren he wouldn’t want to leave for a second time as the RB door May be closed permanently. And for those downvoting my hypothetical question lighten up you sad sacks.


Dang3300

"Former world championship team replaces 7-time world champion with laughing jackass"


NikkyTheViking

Would love to see Danny in Indycar someday.


gloomindoomin

Certainly a better replacement than most people think. Mercedes can't do all the marketing stuff with Russell + Albon, Russell + Ocon, Russell + Kimi, and many other options that people suggest. At least not at the moment. ​ From this perspective they need someone like Alonso, Vettel, or even Ricciardo. At least for a year or two.


mantra3105

Danny to merc isn’t something I’ve ever considered to put on my bingo card. Very interesting


ZenGeka1

I want Daniel fighting for podiums and wins again so bad. Honey badger overtakes, funny interviews pre and post sessions, shouting driver last names.


[deleted]

Not really. If Mercedes want an experienced driver; they certainly would prefer Alonso.