The making and breaking of Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 career shows why team mate contests are so important in Formula 1.
Few expected Red Bull’s new hiring in 2014 to put one over Sebastian Vettel, who had just won his fourth consecutive world championship. But Ricciardo did exactly that.
Given his recent struggles, it’s easy to forget why Ricciardo was so highly-rated by many in those early years. But imagine the impact a driver would make if Max Verstappen wins another championship this year – and then gets beaten by his team mate in 2025.
Verstappen was the first driver who asked serious questions of Ricciardo as a team mate. During their third year alongside each other, Ricciardo took the fateful decision to turn his back on Red Bull.
We now know he was leaving what turned into a championship-winning car. But how much of Red Bull’s subsequent glory he would have claimed is doubtful, such has been Verstappen’s grip on the team since then.
From there, Ricciardo spent two seasons at Renault where he held the upper hand over two different team mates. But at McLaren he found himself up against another challenging team mate: Lando Norris. This time there was no question of Ricciardo jumping ship early. McLaren cut his three-year contract short by a season, and Ricciardo’s F1 career seemed to be over.
Red Bull handed him a lifeline last year, placing him at their junior team AlphaTauri (now RB). However his comeback was almost immediately derailed by a crash which left him with a wrist injury.
Back in the car full-time at the end of the year, Ricciardo measured up poorly against his latest team mate Yuki Tsunoda. Red Bull hoped he would demonstrate himself worthy of a return to the top team, but he’s fallen far short, and his time in F1 now seems to be at an end.
2011: HRT
Team mate: Vitantonio Liuzzi*
Points were out of the question during Ricciardo’s mid-season debut with the struggling HRT team, which folded at the end of the following year. However he measured up impressively against a driver Red Bull knew well: Their former racer Vitantonio Liuzzi.
*Narain Karthikeyan was also Ricciardo’s team mate for one race
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2012: Toro Rosso
Team mate: Jean-Eric Vergne
For his first full season in F1, Red Bull moved Ricciardo to their junior team, known at the…
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