BREAKING: Daniel Ricciardo to Renault

[Bobby Pennington]

Looks like I'm a Rena.........nah, just a Ricardo fan as always. Renault are ok and they probably will get to their winning ways again with Daniel's help. Probably a pretty good pairing.

 

[aka2k]

I've seen enough of F1 decline. Beam me up, Scotty. Let's see what's happening back in 1990.

 

[Mr Latte]

GOBSMACKED
Severe Slap In The Face To Christian Horner ​

Its a gutsy move, a bit like some of his overtakes but let's face it.

Daniel knows the internal situation within RedBull and the combination of being more the No.2 favored in the team combined with the uncertainty of Honda.

I really look forward to see how Nico compares with him but does this then mean Sainz is going to RedBull or will he end up at Mclaren. Ohhhhhhhhh interesting.............

Their still could be more drama/shocks
Alonso to Honda/Redbull (okay maybe not that one) but gees this news was a shock as seemed he was committing to Redbull being shunned by situations at Ferrari/Mercedes

 

[RichardHessels]

At least he will get new engine part instead of refurbished ones that break down.

 

[Wedge]

Ricciardo is far from being another Alonso: he stayed on RBR for a long time and he always worked well with the team. Pretty sure he left the door open, unlike Alonso on any other team.

And some of you might be forgetting that RBR won't be getting a Renault engine for the next year but a Honda engine.

RBR car development is superior than Renault, but we all have to see how it will perform with the new Honda engine. Maybe Ricciardo was fearing a struggle he wasn't willing to take.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I think this is indeed a very, very brave move for Ricciardo, and frankly it left me gobsmacked when it announced earlier.

If I was a betting man I'd have expected him to stay at RD, even with Honda, on maybe a 1 year contract as he keeps his options open for either a). a better seat at Merc / Ferrari in future, or b). to see if Honda manage to pull up their socks and build a winning engine.

For me to stay at Red Bull still has advantages for RIC, as even if next year they fall down the order somewhat, racing against, and beating Verstappen keeps him in the limelight and looking impressive.

The problem with Renault, assuming they remain where they are in the competitive stakes, is having a good session / race against Hulkenberg doesn't have the same level of prestige as it does against Verstappen, and I worry that if Renault don't produce a winning car, Ricciardo could well start dropping off the radar of teams / fans as a potential WDC.


To be clear btw, I think Ricciardo is one of the top 3 or 4 best drivers in F1, and I also rate Hulkenberg very, very highly.

We've seen this all before sadly. Thinking of (but not to the same level of talent admittedly) people like Alesi when he left Tyrell, Hulkenberg, Alonso etc.. the list goes on!

Anyway, all said and done, I hope and pray it works out well for the bloke, as a competitive Daniel Ricciardo is a very good thing for the sport.

 

[LeSunTzu]

Alesi, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Ricciardo... spot the odd one out

Hulk is a cool driver but there is no way that only bad luck prevented him from doing in years what Stroll (!) achieved in half a season.

 

[paracletus]

One fact is MV is now the 3rd highest paid F1 driver - more than Alonso.
One could speculate that DR would consider himself worthy of at least equal pay, and it is possible that Red Bull's offer fell short.
That, and regarding MV - as talented as is - is not the greatest team player to say the least. There has been a lot of bickering between the pair of them this year and last.

 

[bgil66]

Hulk and Dani are cool, I'll watch next year

 

[Nick Milton]

Renault have unlimited funds for this sport, we’ve seen then grow since returning, they are not going to go backwards, so for me good gamble Dan, looking forward to it.

 

[gamer19]

If I was a betting man I'd have expected him to stay at RD, even with Honda,...

Didn't knew Daniel was part of our little community, wow, what a pleasant surprise !

 

[NewOne0]

If Red Bull suffers from the switch to Honda power, this could turn out as a brilliant move. Otherwise I personally see absolutely no reason to leave Red Bull for a lower team.

 

[John Addison]

Honda power caused this move. Brave decision but I think Renault will beat Honda.

 

[Dethrone1427]

I think it'll be an inspired move, personally.

 

[daceaki]

As much as the talk about the uncertainty of Honda engine, I bet DR's move is more about No.1 driver status and salary. I doubt RB will pay him anywhere near what MV got. He's not getting anywhere in RB anyway, maybe scoring more points than MV? But that's it.

 

[Ghoults]

Renault has been improving in the last seasons for sure but to go from 4th to 3rd is a massive step up in performance compared to any place to 4th. Red bull has killer chassis but weak engine. On high downforce tracks they can occasionally take the fight to ferrari and mercedes but most of the time they are in their own bubble as 3rd best team. And the weakness of the red bull is the renault engine. I don't really see honda improving. At best they can match renault which financially is of course net positive for red bull. But red bull is stuck where they are now. Unless honda turns into miracle maker. I'd love to see honda improve. I'd love to see renault improve and mclaren improve. The more cars can win a race the better the racing. This 2 car championship is boring.

Toro rosso are already complaining about the lack of power with their honda engines. Gasly was very disappointed in how he is totally defenseless and how much speed he is losing. Some people say honda has improved for this year but apart from one weird race the results are just poor. Honda has used twice as many engine components so far than any other team so their reliability is still awful. Can't make engine fast if it doesn't last. They still lack speed and who knows how bad the other aspects of their engine are.

The engine that has improved the most in the last 2 years is the ferrari engine. Mercedes progress has slowed down and renault is still focusing on reliability issues. Both ferrari and merc have pretty impressive party modes for qualifying as well whereas renault's party is more like party attempt at the elderly house. And only party honda has achieved was at mclaren when they could finally threw the honda bits into the trash and move on with their ptsd.

But in the end renault needs to make massive gains to move from p4 to p3. Just to catch red bull they need to find 0.7 seconds. When red bull moves to slower honda units that deficit will decrease but the gap to the top 2 grows. On some tracks that deficit to ferrari and mercedes is 2 seconds. Improving couple of tenths have moved renault from 6th to 4th but the next step needs to be gigantic. As a factory team they should be able to do it but at the same time their competition is bigger manufacturers. Worst case scenario is that renault is stuck in 4th or 3rd fighting red bull.

 

[wombat999]

Consider Renault's F1 history.
1) The pioneers of the Formula 1 Turbo engine, with real success only as an engine supplier.
2) Dominated in the Formula 1 N/A era for several years, outdoing Honda in the process with five driver championships, again as an engine supplier.
3) Two constructor's and driver's championships as Renault, along with four driver's championships as engine suppliers during the last N/A formula. (I haven't checked those numbers but Mk.1 memory more or less works)
If the funding is on an equal footing with Mercedes and FIAT (or close) Renault could move into contention, provided Honda are held back by RBR.
Renault have everything to gain and little to lose if they are fully funded and back their drivers.

 

[RichardHessels]

Still a bit shocked by this "sudden" switch to Renault.
This move leaves Verstappen as undisputed frontman of Red Bull. Quite a achievement for a 20 year old "boy" to be key a driver of a top tier F1 team. Now they can finally race each other again.
I suspect that the RB/Honda is still a bit slower next year. So while Mercedes and Ferrari batlle for the first 4 postitions it would place RB half a second back in between Renault-Haas-ForceIndia.
With the new frontwings that should give less dirty air fall-back in close combat i already look forward to next season.

 

[GP20]

Best choice for Renault.

Gasly is friend with ferstapen so perhaps he will get the seat.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Renault WDC engine supplier: 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. Six championships in the last 13 years. Can't be a bad move when the stars get aligned again at Renault F1.