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Although on paper it looked as though Daniil Kvyat had the wood over Daniel Ricciardo last season, simply finishing the year with more points didn’t tell the whole story.
While some were ready to write off the Australian, Red Bull’s management team knew exactly who was faster and understood that the tail end of his season had been sacrificed testing engine development for this year.
This understanding was clearly demonstrated earlier this season when Kvyat was unceremoniously demoted to the junior team for Max Verstappen, hardly the actions of a team that truly thought Ricciardo was a spent force.
Since going head-to-head with Ricciardo at Red Bull, Verstappen’s performances have been for the most part extremely promising. From the unlikely victory in his first race after being promoted, his talent was apparent and future success undeniable.
Ricciardo holds a narrow lead over his teammate in the championship standings at the moment, however since they became teammates Verstappen has claimed 77 points versus Daniel’s 64.
Yet again things look grim on paper.
Certainly this weekend is the time for Ricciardo to strike back if he is to retain any kind of presence within the team, especially one that runs of momentum and success like Red Bull.
There were no shortage of F1 publications pointing out that for the first time Verstappen out-qualified Ricciardo at the British GP. The margin was close, just three tenths, but it was during the race that Max left Ricciardo behind, pressuring and even overtaking one of the Mercedes, a rare feat in recent years that has proven difficult for the most accomplished drivers.
Britain was the first, and truly only race so far that Verstappen has beaten Ricciardo. As tempting as it is to assume the support within the team has shifted to the Dutchman’s side of the garage, it’s crucial to remember that one race does not a driver make.
In Monaco, for example, Ricciardo was truly in a class of his own. From taking pole in dry conditions, to building a lead in the wet, even the Mercedes team at full capacity shouldn’t have been able to touch him and we all know what really cost Daniel victory.
In Spain Ricciardo lead the race comfortably and should have gone on to win after the Mercedes’ drivers wiped each other out, but again the team’s strategy hung Ricciardo out to dry.
Anyone who has even examined a detailed breakdown of lap data from a race knows that it’s a hodge-podge of scrambled positions, missed opportunities and muddled intentions. Races like Monaco make the story a lot clearer, while Ricciardo was on pole and lead the race Verstappen was all at sea, clipping the walls in qualifying and the race.
He couldn’t have looked less comfortable in the car if he’d left a coat-hanger down the back of his racesuit.
Despite Verstappen claiming his first qualifying success over Ricciardo in the last race, we should remember the other five notches on Ricciardo’s belt. One, Monaco, saw Ricciardo starting on pole while Verstappen was at the other extreme of the grid and at two others, the European Grand Prix and Austrian Grand Prix, Ricciardo was over one second quicker.
I’m as excited about the potential of Verstappen as anyone, but by setting things in context we get to the truth of the matter: Verstappen is not a complete driver.
Not yet anyway, and to be the best you have to beat the best. This weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix will give the two another chance to push both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to the limit, and as the stakes are raised so too is the pressure on both of them to be the one in front at the end of the year.
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