Have McLaren already decided to replace him?
Will he get another drive? Remember when many wanted him in a Ferrari...
Have McLaren already decided to replace him?
Will he get another drive? Remember when many wanted him in a Ferrari...
Forza Ferrari
I think the writing is on the wall. I never really rated him as highly as some. It took him a while to get to grips with things at Renault but you can't take years to adjust to racing cars like he has done.
He was constantly compared to Vettel and his performance relative to him but look at Vettel now, or even at Ferrari, I always felt Seb was just at the right place in the right time when he won those 4 WDC's. He's a very good driver but Leclerc was much better than Seb at Ferrari. It never felt like a good measuring stick.
YUP....exaclty like Hamilton.....6 fake WDC's....put someone like Grojean in taht Merc from 2014 to 2021 and he TOO would have won LOTS of wdc's
when you drive a rocket that's glued to the track, it's really hard to make mistakes.....same as Vettel was in red bull from 2010-2013....
but as soon as the car's are crap both Hamster adn Pettel are NO-where.....getting beaten by teammates.....like an average BUtton spanked Hamster on track in 2011.....WHY????? becase teh car was crap and BUtton showed him that he's a better driver and better at extracting more from a crap car....
I don't think it's as simple as that. That would mean Kimi was an absolute garbage for example as Vettel destroyed him in the same car. yet he won us a title. I think there's so many variables that need to click together to create a winning combo, that 90% of drivers in F1 can win under the right circumstances and EVERY driver in F1 can absolutely suck when it all goes wrong.
"If he can't do it with Ferrari, well, he can't do it." - John Surtees
Kimi was garbage
Forza Ferrari
Mercedes were total garbage in those times. Apples to oranges.
Schumacher won against the faster Williams in 94 and 95, took a Ferrari to the season finale in 97' against a much faster Williams, almost won the title in 98' against a faster McLaren, won a tight WDC in 03', and almost beat Alonso in his prime in 06'.
Every driver has their decline, but Schumacher took 20 years to get to his. He proved he could win in inferior cars. Hamilton and Vettel struggle greatly in them.
Kimi had only two real serious F1 seasons and Ferrari were lucky enough to get one of them.
05, where he won 7 races, but the car wasn't reliable enough to beat Alonso, and 07', when he put together the perfect title comeback from the dead. Outside of them Kimi was very sloppy.
08', he was all over the road crashing and spinning, despite two early season wins. He didn't care after 07' and it showed.
Massa was actually a more balanced driver than him.
OK ! Like I said @ Merc his home team ,3 yrs. 1 podium. Lewis @ Merc !! It was the car for Schumy and the car for Lewis.
Forza Ferrari
You probably forgot that Räikkönen almost won the title in a year old car in '03? He was absolutely phenomenal that year. In '04 the Mercedes engine expired in almost every race until mid-season. Then he was going head to head with Michael in the F2004 and beat him fair and square at Spa in what probably was an inferior car on the day. He also took three poles in a completely failed '06 McLaren and was sensational for Lotus in '12 and '13 prompting him being re-signed by Ferrari again. In his McLaren and '07 Ferrari prime, Kimi was something else. Sure, my first choice in '05 was always Alonso (I was right) but it doesn't mean that Kimi wasn't exceptional prior to turning 30 because he was.
Over their full careers it's not even close, he was miles clear of Massa as a driver but he basically fell into autopilot mode during his title defence. Taking out Sutil in Monaco and the Spa crash were particular low points of a season where he should've been in contention all the way through in '08. Then his final five Ferrari seasons were quite embarrassing since he always fell asleep at the starts, couldn't warm tyres up et cetera and I'd been happy for him to get the boot for Bottas long before Leclerc came around. When the Bottas to Ferrari rumours were strong in '15 I felt that would've been an ideal number two for Vettel since he wouldn't just cruise around. Remarkably though, Kimi had this indian summer in '18 when he figured out that Leclerc was inbound and he needed to perform. Where was all that fire in the previous years?
Anyway, Ricciardo has had some really nice runs in his career but I suspect it's just the energy level he's lacking to really take Norris on. He always has required the needs of the team to be centered around him to perform optimally and this has led to a déja vu scenario for him that has sort of snowballed out of control. I think he deserves to see out his contract though, mainly because the touted replacements are Netflix meme level material. Colton Herta is infamous for being all talent and no work over in the IndyCars and he would get absolutely wrecked by Lando Norris. No question about that. Zak Brown really should be careful what he wishes for. Ricciardo can still bring home some solid points and won't cause internal friction since he knows his place now.
Last edited by Tifoso Svedese; 9th July 2022 at 01:36.
I always liked Danny. He seemed like a good guy and showed some genuine talent in the beginning.
His decline has been sad to see.
Ted's notebook from a couple of days ago......
Rumors around the paddock that Ricciardo will be replaced by Piastri at the end of 2022 going into 2023.
It's not how start but how you finish.
I always liked him, seemed like he would be a good fit for Ferrari at the time; especially with the Italian heritage. However, it seems like we are lucky he never came here. He fell off pretty quickly and can’t seem to get it back together. I don’t know what’s going on…was he always mediocre and RedBull just hid his flaws? Or has he simply just lost it? He is a nice guy, and a good character to have around the paddock. Not sure where he’d find a seat if he looses his sr McLaren.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but he should have never ran from Verstappen. He might have had a WDC, or at least have been in contention for the last few years.
~FORZA FERRARI~
It's not how start but how you finish.
Danny Ric was ok at Reno. Somehow certain drivers do not get on well at Macca in spite of their previous reputation.
I feel sorry for him
Forza Jules
If he truly is on the way out of the drivers seat, I'd love to see him up in the booth, or doing some sort of paddock reporting. Way too good of a personality to not keep him around the tracks.
I think we dodged a bullet by getting Sainz rather than Ricciardo like so many wanted.
Think he'll go to Indy and he might do pretty good there.
It would be interesting to see how he performs in the upcoming season for AlphaTauri. If he produces good results and Checo fails to produce good enough results with Red Bull, we may see him driving for Red Bull Racing in 2025.
Keep in mind it's Max who Checo is up against partner wise, ad he managed 2 wins. He in fact performed. Besides Carlos all other drivers were lost in space!! I see Checo as a better choice over Dan.
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