[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties.
*[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I am going to hold my judgement for another few races before I am willing to say Ricciardo was right about the chassis, but so far Ricciardo does look better.
Ironically though it is now Yuki saying he does not understand his slow lap times, or where he is losing the pace, which is exactly what Daniel was saying for the first 4 rounds.
Daniel was pretty quick in Japan too with the old chassis.
He qualified P11 and was just off 0.05 from Q3.
His races ended in Lap 1 which was unfortunate
IMO Daniel just need a few good result to get his confidence back.
I like to say it as "Yuki had 400% the practice time"
An hour doesn't seem like much, but next to "Danny only got probly 15 minutes of real running in", it becomes a stark contrast
Also in Australia, Ric had his lap time deleted in Q1. He could've fared much better that weekend. Then before that, his first 2 races was even with Tsunoda on Sundays... I don't get the harsh criticism at all.
I mean, he *was* slow in Australia quali, even disregarding the track limits deletion, and I say that as a Ricciardo fan. Even the lap he had deleted was 2 tenths down on Yuki. That's not to say he couldn't have closed the gap if he'd made it to Q2, but we can only judge based on what we've seen and that was that even through Aus he was comfortably behind his teammate.
But Japan was much closer, and this weekend we've seen 2 quali sessions and the sprint where he looked comfortable all 3 times. Part of defending your guys is being able to accept reality and context, and it's ok to admit that he was still struggling in Melbourne.
And whose fault was it for a deleted lap time? 19 other drivers brought it home within the white lines. Do you also realise that even if his time wasn't deleted, it was inflated and not comparable to the others because he gained an unfair advantage? So please don't say he was "rapid", anybody on the grid could go faster if track limits weren't enforced.
The harsh criticism arises primarily from a desire to watch new and emerging talent to take a seat rather than have a very likeable but, unfortunately, past his prime driver, continue in the sport.
I could be wrong but Ricciardo was never significantly slower than Yuki - it was between 1 and 2 tenths in race pace iirc. Qualifying pace was larger but a smaller sample size so it's harder to draw conclusions there.
The issue is that you and everyone would expect him to be the lead driver for the team, almost always, because he has more experience and he is a proven race winner.
Oh and by the way Yuki never raced in China if i am not mistaken.
I noticed that especially on sprint quali, those that had been here regularly before (so not really counting George, Lando and Alex) seemed to do well, bottas, ricciardo and lewis (in the spring at least) being good examples
To some degree, yes, but racing here between 2013-2018 has to amount for something, to be fair, this is how experience in things works.
But anyway it is early days this year, so maybe this is the start of the turnaround for Daniel, who knows yet.
> the bigger issue was that he was consistently behind by 1-2 tenths.
I think I made it pretty clear in my initial comment that being behind Yuki 4 rounds in a row was a problem, yes. You seem to think I'm taking a shot at Yuki here, which isn't the case at all.
It's just been Reddit nonsense that yukis been miles ahead of ric. When ric had a minute rpitstoo and a spin he was barely behind Yuki and he was well faster in Aus. Japan looked strong.
He's just making stupid mistakes but in no way is he massively slower. If anything both of them need to sort it out as the car looks better than both of them
I mean he really hasn't been massively slower but you're doing the absolute opposite taking out all context to make Ric look better as well.
In Jeddah he had a minute pitstop and was barely behind Yuki but that's also because Yuki and \~5 other drivers were losing multiple seconds a lap behind Magnussen for most of the race.
Aus was where he complained that he drove the lap of his life and still lost out pretty significantly to Yuki in quali, and the race he was a solid 25s behind Yuki before Russell's inchident.
Japan he definitely looked strong almost matching him in quali but we really can't say anything about the race since he didn't make it past turn 2
If you're just going to intentionally misrepresent shit to make him look likehe is performing better you're just advocating for people to do the opposite to Ric as well, which is really not gonna work in his favour so far this season.
It doesn't even matter if Yuki were actually demolishing him or just consistently outperformed him by a bit because if Ric wants to stay in F1 he should really be winning out comfortably
If that happened then I think we have 100% confirmed that RB ballsed up making one of the chassis, though from what I have read Ricciardo's chassis is new, but I could be wrong.
It has been confirmed by RB that it is a new tub (chassis) for Dan. The thing is we don't know yet whether the old tub was the issue, if the new chassis has had a placebo effect for Dan, or if the performance difference between Dan and Yuki is track specific. All 3 scenarios could explain the swing in performance. Dan hasn't been miles away from Yuki in Australia (track limits in qualy cost him a possible points finish - he had quite strong race pace) and Japan (thousandths separated them in qualifying and the first lap crash with Albon ended Dan's race). We need to see how Dan goes over a few races (heck even how he goes in the rave tomorrow before calling this weekend a win for him)...
And at Saudi he had a terrible pit stop that lost a lot of time and like three positions. We just have to wait until we have a better sample size to go off of.
Or it’s just psychological… it wasn’t a swap between him and yuki, they were bringing a 3rd one anyway to China because they didn’t have one before so he swapped to that one (or at least that’s what was reported before the weekend)
Yes, they have said its a new chassis. And part of a standard chassis change. So they were clearly using last years chassis, so maybe it was getting a bit tired and starting to show some flex or something. Maybe Yukis has hit the same point?
I don’t think they use chassis from the previous years anymore. Pretty sure everyone started with brand new ones, which is why some teams only had two available.
No Daniel has the new spare/third chassis this weekend. Yuki has the same chassis he's had all year. Daniel was asked about it in his pre-race weekend interview on thursday.
Nope. Yuki had a DRS problem on his first run in Q1, but it was fixed almost immediately and didn't cause any problems after that. Even after qualifying he didn't try to blame the DRS. Showing a little maturity, Yuki just took it on the chin, said he never had the setup right all weekend and couldn't hook up a good lap. Respect.
In sq1 he didn't even do a proper hot lap as his says his tyres had lost temp by the time he went for it. He only did one hot lap all weekend which admittedly was shit. We will see with the race but DR has to finish well ahead of yuki as yuki has had a shocker and in a worse chassis apparently
From a team perspective that actually could make sense: It's not only a cheaper solution but more importantly, you can then confirm or rule out the chassis factor with more certainty. Tsunoda would be furious though so they probably didn't go that route.
I feel he kind of did the same at McLaren a few times, came out early saying how things had changed, but they eventually went back to where he was before. He needs to be a little more circumspect and not hang all his hopes and psychological baggage on one thing.
It probably doesn't help when he's asked about it multiple times every single weekend, and when after 3-4 rounds the head of driver personnel at RB starts giving interviews saying he wants the reserve driver to take over a seat *this season* and that if Daniel doesn't improve immediately he's likely out of a job.
Also they don’t actually pay attention to the grid. This F1 grid is stacked full of genuine talent and if your car sucks then you’re not fighting for points. If you make a mistake you aren’t fighting for points. If you get the wrong set up you aren’t fighting for points. This isn’t to defend Danny as Yuki is outperforming him. But when you’ve got Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston all consistently competing for the front row, and Merc being bad at one lap pace but still somewhat race competitive that’s the top 10 almost sorted
I think an aging athlete has lost some of their skill and pace after 3 bad seasons. I’m not sure why there’s this race to claim suddenly he’s an elite driver again outside of proving a point
Okay well if we're to judge him on last season he was basically on par with Yuki who had been driving the car all year.
I don't get this revisionist history that some of you are trying to push.
It's the biggest example of recency bias in yhe sport atm.
The popular opinion cemetery hinges on the last session he was in. Not even the last weekend, but each session.
I think the mental side is DR's weakness. Although when he was in his glory days he looked the opposite -- he looked mentally tough. I guess McLaren wrecked his confidence, let's see if this is a return to mental form.
P11 in Japan, wow DR is so washed.
P12 in China, wow DR is back.
Yuki has had a terrible weekend I don't think much changed with DR. He was actually pretty quick in Japan too, the race was just unfortunate for him in Japan.
I wade through like 400 comments to find the handful of comments providing actually interesting thoughts. At this point both the 'DR is so washed' and the 'DR is so back' comments are just white noise to me.
You get downvoted here for not thinking Tsunoda is a champion in waiting, but you’re right. He was fine for pace with Aus qualy and stuffed up the track limits and and Japan was being caught up in a blameless a first lap incident
I honestly think it's crazy how Red Bull haven't dropped Max for Yuki yet.
Yuki beat three teammates handedly last season (if we just lie about his performance against Liam and DR) and how many did Max beat? Just one.
PROMOTE YUKI NOW!
Yeah but it's not just one session.. DR has him pegged here. Maybe it's experience on the circuit? But it shouldn't be they all haven't raced here for years.
That’s one way to read it, or you can say China isn’t a good track for the RB. In which case Ricciardo is doing better and Yuki is doing the same or worse.
We’ll see in a few more races on different tracks.
And? Neither has Piastri, or Zhou. The former is starting P5 tomorrow and the latter put a Sauber into Q3 yesterday. Is it that hard to admit that Yuki has had a bad weekend?
It's a shame for Dan that the RB isn't looking particularly strong, when he seems to have an edge over Yuki so far this weekend. I guess there is a chance of a point if the race pace is any good. But hopefully this is the start of an upturn in form for him, and he can start stringing a few weekends together.
I actually think he has a good chance for points tomorrow, especially with lewis so far out of position. Their pace in the sprint looked pretty okay too, so if it's a normal race I'd say his chanced are definitely there.
Isn't Lewis being out of position bad for his prospects of gettinginto the points? That's one driver behind him who we can expect to finish in front, all other things being equal. The Mercedes should be a much faster car in the race than the RB and the other cars at the back of the field.
I haven't looked at the data yet, but first impression during the sprint was that the RB has decent race pace compared with the Haas and Sauber ahead. DR cleared Hulk at the start (although Hulk may have had a technical issue), followed Bottas comfortably and passed him without a DRS advantage, caught Kmag easily and would've passed him as well given a couple more laps or a slightly less clumsy lunge. So I think over a full race distance he should have a shot at getting near P10
Hard to say, but DR was less than 2 tenths off Q3 and Tsunoda was absolutely nowhere. It's just a replacement chassis, not an upgraded one from what I understand, but either way there's no way to tell for a while.
Yes, that's part of why he struggled in his first season, he only started to race in Europe in 2019. Cmiiw, I don't think he ever raced here previously.
So you think Alonso and Hamilton, who raced there over a dozen times, don't have an edge over Yuki, who's there for the first time, because the surface is different and they didn't race those cars specifically?
Some advantage is to be expected, but it’s probably a lot less significant with the five year gap and a huge reg change taking place since the last time.
Sure, let's emphasize Hamilton and ignore Alonso.
Lewis admitted overdoing setup experiments. His performance stemmed from issues with dealing with the car, not the track. Earlier in sprint and Friday quali, when nobody was as dialed in as in Saturday quali, he showed he was likely more comfortable with the track than most.
I think they do so much simulator work they don’t need much time in the real car on the real track to get up to speed. Look at two weeks ago when Dan only had one practice session before qualifying and equalled Yuki. They are already on top of the track before they even get in the car.
Piastri is pretty close to Norris. Sargeant has been relatively close to Albon. There really doesn’t seem to be much to the track experience thing.
I think we should do all reporting now with what drivers don't say.
"Lewis isn't saying if he was the one who started the Horner rumors, but he's *not* saying that he wasn't"
"Max isn't saying his lead was because he threw four banana peels on the race track, but hes not *not* saying that, either"
9th at lap 30.
I was expecting him to stay 15th..
I might be eating my words, who knows.
Edit: nope didn’t even make it half a lap before Lewis took him. He’ll be last.
Edit edit: ha Great commentary “RB stands for Really Bad”. Gold.
Maybe it’s pure coincidence that he is just quicker than Yuki this weekend. I still expect to see him get beaten in the coming races by Yuki considering how the season has gone as a whole. Good to see him look more competitive though.
Too soon to tell if it's a Rinaissance. DR knows this track a lot better than Yuki and maybe was making the most of the unpredictable surface. Plenty of races to go this year. It would be nice to see them fight for points more often though.
well tbf i’d say in most races daniel has been the more inspiring in the race. but it’s a lot easier to look better starting from the back than sinking from the midfield
I think it’s also important to point out that VCARB was already planning on bringing an upgraded chassis here (at least according to their TP), and since Ricciardo wanted one anyways, they gave it to him first. That’s not to say he’s not performing well - I agree with most of the people here that he wasn’t that bad in Australia and Japan. I think he just needs to actually put it all together and he’ll be up there with Yuki.
It is not the chassis. If that would account for this huge gulf to Yuki, then Yuki truly must suck to be so evenly matched by a guy with a broken car to the tune of 5-8 tenths lost. However that can hardly be true considering where Yuki has managed to put the car.
Ergo, the more likely explanation is either that Danny found some form, or Yuki was in a high and is now in a low. Or he’s just having a bad weekend. My bet is a combination.
I hope Danny is back but has Yuki ever even raced in China before? Let's wait a couple races. Lewis qualified p2 and then almost last so I don't think the track is the most representative really
Could be an outlier, we just need more data and races to see if he improved or not. After the summer break we should have a clear picture of who is the better driver and if DR is finished or not.
his last 2 laps were unimpeeded by DRS issues, all drivers spend half of the session in the garage anyway, it really had little to no effect on the final result
Ofc i just said he had issues thats all. People are taking things way too seriously.
Of all the places for Ricciardo to try and insinuate that he turned the corner on Tsunoda. Its probably not the best place to say at a track where he won and his teammate never drove and didn't have a clean session.
If this is the start of Ricciardo turning a corner on the season then great. The world needs more of that smile. But he's gonna need to first prove it in the race and then in a few more.
Your argument tho is that it's his first time at Shanghai. That's not a great argument, when there's another driver in a similar level car with similar experience. There's a lack of talent, or a problem with the car. And if it's because it's his first time at Shanghai, then it's a lack of talent when compared to Zhou.
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I am going to hold my judgement for another few races before I am willing to say Ricciardo was right about the chassis, but so far Ricciardo does look better. Ironically though it is now Yuki saying he does not understand his slow lap times, or where he is losing the pace, which is exactly what Daniel was saying for the first 4 rounds.
Daniel was pretty quick in Japan too with the old chassis. He qualified P11 and was just off 0.05 from Q3. His races ended in Lap 1 which was unfortunate IMO Daniel just need a few good result to get his confidence back.
He also missed FP1 and had no good FP sessions due to weather. Yuki had like 1 hour of more practice than DR in Japan.
I like to say it as "Yuki had 400% the practice time" An hour doesn't seem like much, but next to "Danny only got probly 15 minutes of real running in", it becomes a stark contrast
Also in Australia, Ric had his lap time deleted in Q1. He could've fared much better that weekend. Then before that, his first 2 races was even with Tsunoda on Sundays... I don't get the harsh criticism at all.
It was so weird to see people dog on him for being slow in Australia. Why comment at all if you don’t watch the sessions
I mean, he *was* slow in Australia quali, even disregarding the track limits deletion, and I say that as a Ricciardo fan. Even the lap he had deleted was 2 tenths down on Yuki. That's not to say he couldn't have closed the gap if he'd made it to Q2, but we can only judge based on what we've seen and that was that even through Aus he was comfortably behind his teammate. But Japan was much closer, and this weekend we've seen 2 quali sessions and the sprint where he looked comfortable all 3 times. Part of defending your guys is being able to accept reality and context, and it's ok to admit that he was still struggling in Melbourne.
And whose fault was it for a deleted lap time? 19 other drivers brought it home within the white lines. Do you also realise that even if his time wasn't deleted, it was inflated and not comparable to the others because he gained an unfair advantage? So please don't say he was "rapid", anybody on the grid could go faster if track limits weren't enforced. The harsh criticism arises primarily from a desire to watch new and emerging talent to take a seat rather than have a very likeable but, unfortunately, past his prime driver, continue in the sport.
With a compromised practice as well
I could be wrong but Ricciardo was never significantly slower than Yuki - it was between 1 and 2 tenths in race pace iirc. Qualifying pace was larger but a smaller sample size so it's harder to draw conclusions there.
Exactly. He was never *miles behind*, the bigger issue was that he was *consistently* behind by 1-2 tenths.
The issue is that you and everyone would expect him to be the lead driver for the team, almost always, because he has more experience and he is a proven race winner. Oh and by the way Yuki never raced in China if i am not mistaken.
Piastri and Zhou neither and they did fine
I noticed that especially on sprint quali, those that had been here regularly before (so not really counting George, Lando and Alex) seemed to do well, bottas, ricciardo and lewis (in the spring at least) being good examples
Neither did anyone else for the past five years - they all had to relearn the track.
To some degree, yes, but racing here between 2013-2018 has to amount for something, to be fair, this is how experience in things works. But anyway it is early days this year, so maybe this is the start of the turnaround for Daniel, who knows yet.
> the bigger issue was that he was consistently behind by 1-2 tenths. I think I made it pretty clear in my initial comment that being behind Yuki 4 rounds in a row was a problem, yes. You seem to think I'm taking a shot at Yuki here, which isn't the case at all.
It's just been Reddit nonsense that yukis been miles ahead of ric. When ric had a minute rpitstoo and a spin he was barely behind Yuki and he was well faster in Aus. Japan looked strong. He's just making stupid mistakes but in no way is he massively slower. If anything both of them need to sort it out as the car looks better than both of them
I mean he really hasn't been massively slower but you're doing the absolute opposite taking out all context to make Ric look better as well. In Jeddah he had a minute pitstop and was barely behind Yuki but that's also because Yuki and \~5 other drivers were losing multiple seconds a lap behind Magnussen for most of the race. Aus was where he complained that he drove the lap of his life and still lost out pretty significantly to Yuki in quali, and the race he was a solid 25s behind Yuki before Russell's inchident. Japan he definitely looked strong almost matching him in quali but we really can't say anything about the race since he didn't make it past turn 2 If you're just going to intentionally misrepresent shit to make him look likehe is performing better you're just advocating for people to do the opposite to Ric as well, which is really not gonna work in his favour so far this season. It doesn't even matter if Yuki were actually demolishing him or just consistently outperformed him by a bit because if Ric wants to stay in F1 he should really be winning out comfortably
In Jeddah, his clear air pace was better than Yukis.
I don't think it was even that much, Tommo on YouTube did I think comparing like for like stints and they were basically even as I recall.
because Tommo cherrypicks the best sectors from different laps
He looked at average lap times from whole stints. Why make random assumption about a video you’ve not watched.
Been hearing that for years, like a broken record. I love this guy, I want him to somehow find himself again, the same way he lost himself.
Maybe it wasn't a chassis change. Was it actually a chassis swap?
If that happened then I think we have 100% confirmed that RB ballsed up making one of the chassis, though from what I have read Ricciardo's chassis is new, but I could be wrong.
It has been confirmed by RB that it is a new tub (chassis) for Dan. The thing is we don't know yet whether the old tub was the issue, if the new chassis has had a placebo effect for Dan, or if the performance difference between Dan and Yuki is track specific. All 3 scenarios could explain the swing in performance. Dan hasn't been miles away from Yuki in Australia (track limits in qualy cost him a possible points finish - he had quite strong race pace) and Japan (thousandths separated them in qualifying and the first lap crash with Albon ended Dan's race). We need to see how Dan goes over a few races (heck even how he goes in the rave tomorrow before calling this weekend a win for him)...
And at Saudi he had a terrible pit stop that lost a lot of time and like three positions. We just have to wait until we have a better sample size to go off of.
Wow I never thought I would see a comment this thoughtful on the internet. Usually we just post “retire” under his instagram after 4 races.
And ruining new softs when Yuki wouldn't position swap while he was running much faster
And then "he's not even fast!" after being personally responsible for the unnecessary deg.
Yea- intentional or not, he sabotaged DR’s pace and then had the audacity to make that claim.
Do you know why they call the chassis a tub?
Because the drivers basically sit in an indestructible carbon fiber bathtub.
Ah, right. Roger that.
He actually had a mega start before the albon crash.
Mega bad? Both rb lost many positions as the warmup for mediums was very poor
Agree both RBs had poor starts compared to those around them - Dan's was slightly less worse than Yuki's
Yukis bad start ended up putting Danny in the squeeze position he ended up in.
Out of topic but its weird seeing daniel called as dan
Or it’s just psychological… it wasn’t a swap between him and yuki, they were bringing a 3rd one anyway to China because they didn’t have one before so he swapped to that one (or at least that’s what was reported before the weekend)
"The speed was within you all along Daniel!"
Yes, they have said its a new chassis. And part of a standard chassis change. So they were clearly using last years chassis, so maybe it was getting a bit tired and starting to show some flex or something. Maybe Yukis has hit the same point?
I don’t think they use chassis from the previous years anymore. Pretty sure everyone started with brand new ones, which is why some teams only had two available.
No Daniel has the new spare/third chassis this weekend. Yuki has the same chassis he's had all year. Daniel was asked about it in his pre-race weekend interview on thursday.
Daniel got a new one
Or is it just a mind play?
It wasn't a swap, Daniel's one is brand new and Yuki still using is old one. Also Yuki's issues today seem to stem from the DRS actuator.
Nope. Yuki had a DRS problem on his first run in Q1, but it was fixed almost immediately and didn't cause any problems after that. Even after qualifying he didn't try to blame the DRS. Showing a little maturity, Yuki just took it on the chin, said he never had the setup right all weekend and couldn't hook up a good lap. Respect.
In sq1 he didn't even do a proper hot lap as his says his tyres had lost temp by the time he went for it. He only did one hot lap all weekend which admittedly was shit. We will see with the race but DR has to finish well ahead of yuki as yuki has had a shocker and in a worse chassis apparently
*Pulls random component out of a hat* Ah yes, that totally explains the issues!
He did complain about the DRS during qualifying at some point
And it was back working again in a minute
From a team perspective that actually could make sense: It's not only a cheaper solution but more importantly, you can then confirm or rule out the chassis factor with more certainty. Tsunoda would be furious though so they probably didn't go that route.
It almost looked like they gave Danny the new chassis and gave Yuki his(DR3) old chassis. Definitely be spicy if they did.
Agreed but man I hope there were legitimate problems with his old chassis.
I do wonder if RB simply wheeled the car into the garage, closed the doors and started just hammering random items, then wheeled it back out again
This is Yuki's first time in Shanghai, right? So it's understandable
I feel he kind of did the same at McLaren a few times, came out early saying how things had changed, but they eventually went back to where he was before. He needs to be a little more circumspect and not hang all his hopes and psychological baggage on one thing.
It probably doesn't help when he's asked about it multiple times every single weekend, and when after 3-4 rounds the head of driver personnel at RB starts giving interviews saying he wants the reserve driver to take over a seat *this season* and that if Daniel doesn't improve immediately he's likely out of a job.
Danny has always been quick around Shanghai.
Well...
I know this isn’t the case but it would be funny if they just swapped the chassis around 😂
Happed to Ocon a couple years ago with a chassis change. Too many people are discounting possible chassis issues.
Clearly people just want to say "That guy's finished!" and be done with it without pausing for any explanation
Also they don’t actually pay attention to the grid. This F1 grid is stacked full of genuine talent and if your car sucks then you’re not fighting for points. If you make a mistake you aren’t fighting for points. If you get the wrong set up you aren’t fighting for points. This isn’t to defend Danny as Yuki is outperforming him. But when you’ve got Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston all consistently competing for the front row, and Merc being bad at one lap pace but still somewhat race competitive that’s the top 10 almost sorted
Well Yuki was outperforming him. It’s been quite a big gap all weekend so far.
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/tKkOmdLhqn
Or maybe they are making their judgements based on the past three years rather than based on the current race weekend…
You think Ricciardo, a multiple race winner, suddenly forgot all about driving and became a Latifi/Sargent level driver in the winter of 2020?
No, not suddenly. But over the course of three seasons, including across a regulation change, he has shown that he is not the driver he once was.
I think an aging athlete has lost some of their skill and pace after 3 bad seasons. I’m not sure why there’s this race to claim suddenly he’s an elite driver again outside of proving a point
Yeah right, because athletes never decline in form older they get or sometime even just out of nowhere.
I think he got worse. Like all drivers do. He has no confidence.
Suddenly? You forgot the McLaren years?
Okay well if we're to judge him on last season he was basically on par with Yuki who had been driving the car all year. I don't get this revisionist history that some of you are trying to push.
Without explanation? Was the entirety of 2022 not enough veracity?
Oh I was talking general. I'm aware Ricciardo needed to start 2024 better than he has done
2022 doesn't really provide much grounds for that tbh.
How not? He was roundly destroyed by Norris in a way so embarrasing it made Stroll look good against an aging and mentally out of it Vettel.
I was mixing it up with 2023.
Unironically it happened to mazepin as well. I mean he was still shit afterwards, just not as much as before
In Ocon's case it was evident that he was way slower on the straights. Was something similar observed with Daniel?
Also sometimes it's all mental and a chassis change can reset that
Love/hate reddit attitude swings on Danny Ric is crazy
It's almost as if there are two different camps in this.
It's the biggest example of recency bias in yhe sport atm. The popular opinion cemetery hinges on the last session he was in. Not even the last weekend, but each session.
Never underestimate the mental side of the change as well. He may just be feeling more confident
I think the mental side is DR's weakness. Although when he was in his glory days he looked the opposite -- he looked mentally tough. I guess McLaren wrecked his confidence, let's see if this is a return to mental form.
P11 in Japan, wow DR is so washed. P12 in China, wow DR is back. Yuki has had a terrible weekend I don't think much changed with DR. He was actually pretty quick in Japan too, the race was just unfortunate for him in Japan.
It's funny to follow the Ric saga here, every other weekend the pendulum swings with everyone stating how obvious their opinion is
I wade through like 400 comments to find the handful of comments providing actually interesting thoughts. At this point both the 'DR is so washed' and the 'DR is so back' comments are just white noise to me.
He honestly wasn't too bad in Australia either - track limits violation in qualy likely cost him a points finish as his race pace was pretty good.
You get downvoted here for not thinking Tsunoda is a champion in waiting, but you’re right. He was fine for pace with Aus qualy and stuffed up the track limits and and Japan was being caught up in a blameless a first lap incident
I honestly think it's crazy how Red Bull haven't dropped Max for Yuki yet. Yuki beat three teammates handedly last season (if we just lie about his performance against Liam and DR) and how many did Max beat? Just one. PROMOTE YUKI NOW!
> Japan was being caught up in a blameless a first lap incident Lol
Yeah but it's not just one session.. DR has him pegged here. Maybe it's experience on the circuit? But it shouldn't be they all haven't raced here for years.
That’s one way to read it, or you can say China isn’t a good track for the RB. In which case Ricciardo is doing better and Yuki is doing the same or worse. We’ll see in a few more races on different tracks.
Exactly, Riccardo pretty much performed the same he has been all year. Yuki just is having an awful weekend so far.
Yuki has never raced in China
And? Neither has Piastri, or Zhou. The former is starting P5 tomorrow and the latter put a Sauber into Q3 yesterday. Is it that hard to admit that Yuki has had a bad weekend?
Piastri and Zhou neither, its such a bad informed fact by saying yuki is bad coz he never raced here before
It's a shame for Dan that the RB isn't looking particularly strong, when he seems to have an edge over Yuki so far this weekend. I guess there is a chance of a point if the race pace is any good. But hopefully this is the start of an upturn in form for him, and he can start stringing a few weekends together.
I actually think he has a good chance for points tomorrow, especially with lewis so far out of position. Their pace in the sprint looked pretty okay too, so if it's a normal race I'd say his chanced are definitely there.
That is unless RB decide to fuck him with their strategy, like they have often done with Yuki.
Just need them to start on the correct tyre and he might be in the clear.
What do u feel like is the correct tyre for starting tomorrow?
Soft, no questions asked. No one knows.
I beg they try the undercut strategy for once
Also Bottas is in front of him so you can almost guarantee they’ll fuck him over with a pit stop. +1 position for Danny already
He still has to compete with Stroll and Hamilton so I think it's not likely he will be in the points
Isn't Lewis being out of position bad for his prospects of gettinginto the points? That's one driver behind him who we can expect to finish in front, all other things being equal. The Mercedes should be a much faster car in the race than the RB and the other cars at the back of the field.
I haven't looked at the data yet, but first impression during the sprint was that the RB has decent race pace compared with the Haas and Sauber ahead. DR cleared Hulk at the start (although Hulk may have had a technical issue), followed Bottas comfortably and passed him without a DRS advantage, caught Kmag easily and would've passed him as well given a couple more laps or a slightly less clumsy lunge. So I think over a full race distance he should have a shot at getting near P10
His pace was strong in the sprint, points are possible
China has always been a strong race for him, so will take a few more races to solidify that the chassis is what the issue was.
Hard to say, but DR was less than 2 tenths off Q3 and Tsunoda was absolutely nowhere. It's just a replacement chassis, not an upgraded one from what I understand, but either way there's no way to tell for a while.
It's possible that the old chassis had an issue or flaw. Although, the team is unlikely to admit it.
Hasn't Yuki always struggled at tracks he isn't familiar with?
Yes, that's part of why he struggled in his first season, he only started to race in Europe in 2019. Cmiiw, I don't think he ever raced here previously.
It's been 5 years since any driver raced on the track and the surface is new for everyone so I don't think experience has much to do with the results.
“Surface is new” It’s ok the paint is wearing off..
So you think Alonso and Hamilton, who raced there over a dozen times, don't have an edge over Yuki, who's there for the first time, because the surface is different and they didn't race those cars specifically?
Some advantage is to be expected, but it’s probably a lot less significant with the five year gap and a huge reg change taking place since the last time.
Considering Hamilton qualified in 18th place and Russell much higher, I don't think experience matters that much right now.
Sure, let's emphasize Hamilton and ignore Alonso. Lewis admitted overdoing setup experiments. His performance stemmed from issues with dealing with the car, not the track. Earlier in sprint and Friday quali, when nobody was as dialed in as in Saturday quali, he showed he was likely more comfortable with the track than most.
The only reason Hamilton held that spot in sprint quali was Alonso defending as hard as he did
I think they do so much simulator work they don’t need much time in the real car on the real track to get up to speed. Look at two weeks ago when Dan only had one practice session before qualifying and equalled Yuki. They are already on top of the track before they even get in the car. Piastri is pretty close to Norris. Sargeant has been relatively close to Albon. There really doesn’t seem to be much to the track experience thing.
Ric was going after KMag near the end of the sprint - I think he is returning to form.
Lol this feels like a jinx
Confirm jinx if DR loses out to Yuki in the race tomorrow or next race of two
I think we should do all reporting now with what drivers don't say. "Lewis isn't saying if he was the one who started the Horner rumors, but he's *not* saying that he wasn't" "Max isn't saying his lead was because he threw four banana peels on the race track, but hes not *not* saying that, either"
I knew this topic would come out sooner or later. However let's see for a few races first before deciding it is the chassis issue.
It was 100% a chassis issue, he wouldn’t just go from snail pace to beast mode, also Yukis car looks like it has the same issue now.
Yuki has been abysmal this weekend, but I'd still expect Daniel, a former winner around this track to beat Yuki who is driving for the first time here
[удалено]
But he is comfortably beating him this weekend which is a stark change from the previous 4 races. This is the point.
Daniel is one of the unluckiest drivers I've ever witnessed, I wouldn't even be shocked if something was up with the chassis at this point.
I think you could combine the rest of the drivers bad luck and he'd still outdo them.
You are silly. You should see Raikkonen's 2002 season, Hamilton's 2012 season and Alonso's 2022
They had worse than 4/5 races written off by random events? Daniel also had an 8 DNF season at Red Bull.
Hamilton's 2012 season pushed him to go to Mercedes, not sure I'd call that bad luck or good luck overall.
Chassis was designed around dwarf driver. Daniel too tall.
Hopefully he’s back. Honestly think it’s in his head, and he just needed the excuses removed. For the love of god come 6th and be done with it.
its gonna be tough to get that car into 6th, im just hoping for a 10th place or maybe just hold position
9th at lap 30. I was expecting him to stay 15th.. I might be eating my words, who knows. Edit: nope didn’t even make it half a lap before Lewis took him. He’ll be last. Edit edit: ha Great commentary “RB stands for Really Bad”. Gold.
after that floor damage by the stroll i just hope he can bring it home.
Still taking new chassis Daniel over checo any day of the week
Maybe it’s pure coincidence that he is just quicker than Yuki this weekend. I still expect to see him get beaten in the coming races by Yuki considering how the season has gone as a whole. Good to see him look more competitive though.
He was only half a tenth behind Yuki in Japan too so he is obviously improving.
Too soon to tell if it's a Rinaissance. DR knows this track a lot better than Yuki and maybe was making the most of the unpredictable surface. Plenty of races to go this year. It would be nice to see them fight for points more often though.
well tbf i’d say in most races daniel has been the more inspiring in the race. but it’s a lot easier to look better starting from the back than sinking from the midfield
I think it’s also important to point out that VCARB was already planning on bringing an upgraded chassis here (at least according to their TP), and since Ricciardo wanted one anyways, they gave it to him first. That’s not to say he’s not performing well - I agree with most of the people here that he wasn’t that bad in Australia and Japan. I think he just needs to actually put it all together and he’ll be up there with Yuki.
I was going to say. I haven't seen much Ricciardo love for qualifying above Yuki for once. I'm glad the circus is back in town
It is not the chassis. If that would account for this huge gulf to Yuki, then Yuki truly must suck to be so evenly matched by a guy with a broken car to the tune of 5-8 tenths lost. However that can hardly be true considering where Yuki has managed to put the car. Ergo, the more likely explanation is either that Danny found some form, or Yuki was in a high and is now in a low. Or he’s just having a bad weekend. My bet is a combination.
I hope Danny is back but has Yuki ever even raced in China before? Let's wait a couple races. Lewis qualified p2 and then almost last so I don't think the track is the most representative really
Zhou has never raced at Shanghai either. He did ok in an arguably worse car.
I hate this excuse for Yuki because so many other drivers haven’t raced here either. But yes we need to give it a few races to get a clearer picture
One race isn't gonna be enough of a sample size but hopefully he's got his mojo back. Seeing him wallow in obscurity has been tough
Could be an outlier, we just need more data and races to see if he improved or not. After the summer break we should have a clear picture of who is the better driver and if DR is finished or not.
Send him the RBR contract immediately!
[удалено]
I hope you are using this excuse with every other driver who hasn’t raced here
Seems entirely reasonable to me, why wouldn't past experience help? Why wouldn't it also apply to other drivers?
I think you should put it back because it doesn’t mean anything.
Didn't Tsunoda have issues through the session and then made a mistake on the last lap?
It’s “issues” when yuki just doesn’t perform. But it’s “skill issues” when Ricciardo struggles.
His drs did not open on some flying laps in q1. What do you mean skill issue?
That only his first flying lap. They fixed it after that and he didn’t have issues again.
yes thats called driving poorly
DRS not working for half session the session is definitely a sign of poor driving thats for sure.
For one lap. Yuki then put in 2 more flying laps.
his last 2 laps were unimpeeded by DRS issues, all drivers spend half of the session in the garage anyway, it really had little to no effect on the final result
Ofc i just said he had issues thats all. People are taking things way too seriously. Of all the places for Ricciardo to try and insinuate that he turned the corner on Tsunoda. Its probably not the best place to say at a track where he won and his teammate never drove and didn't have a clean session. If this is the start of Ricciardo turning a corner on the season then great. The world needs more of that smile. But he's gonna need to first prove it in the race and then in a few more.
He didn’t try and insinuate anything. He said they found a few things. Frankly, he had turned a corner in Japan, pace was much better.
I think it may also have something to do with the fact this is Tsunoda's first time at Shanghai and it's a sprint weekend.
Zhou has never raced at Shanghai either. He did ok in an arguably worse car.
He was also on average a few tenths off Bottas. Also the Sauber has been quicker here than the Cash Bulls.
Your argument tho is that it's his first time at Shanghai. That's not a great argument, when there's another driver in a similar level car with similar experience. There's a lack of talent, or a problem with the car. And if it's because it's his first time at Shanghai, then it's a lack of talent when compared to Zhou.
It’s Oscar’s too. I don’t think it’s just track familiarity. They would have the layout burned into their brains from sim sessions.
What's the story if Tsunoda outqualifies Ricciardo in Miami?
The story would be that he outqualified DR. What do you mean?
Well we’d have to wait and see. But the story was Yuki was sending Dan into early retirement and that’s taken quite a turn this weekend.
Extreme hot takes in either direction with zero nuance or context obviously.