Ricciardo

[Roamy]

Haven't heard much about this youngster but today in testing he kicked butt and took names !! So if he didn't have a major car advantage they should probably consider moving him into a testing role this year at Red Bull or even driver at Toro!

[Saint Devote]

Haven't heard much about this youngster but today in testing he kicked butt and took names !! So if he didn't have a major car advantage they should probably consider moving him into a testing role this year at Red Bull or even driver at Toro!

All these test do is indicate potential but going to F1 now is too soon. He has to learn about car set up - communisctaing with the engineers and hone his race craft steadily.

Next season he will move into FR3.5 and then into GP2 if all goes to plan. There is no rush.

Just as Hulkenberg turned down Ferrari this year to replace Massa so it is the correct decision for F3 champ Ricciardo to njoy his current fun, but move to F1 if and when the time is right.

[keysersoze]

Over a second clear of the field tells me he can fine-tune his set-up ability while he's employed.

[ShiftingGears]

I wouldn't be surprised if STR dump one of their current drivers halfway through the year and shoehorn Ricciardo in.

[gloomyDAY]

I'm surprised an Australian didn't start this thread.

You guys are lagging!

[Saint Devote]

Over a second clear of the field tells me he can fine-tune his set-up ability while he's employed.

Lets not make these Jerez test days more than they are. There is a vast difference between teams doing different things at different times for different reasons.

Ricciardo has potential and that has been evident since his FR2.0 days - but there is a development process that should not be dismissed.

His turn will come in f1. A good example of good management? Nico Hulkenberg. How many drivers would have correctly resisted the temptation to jump into the Ferrari this year to replace Massa? Good man that Hulkenberg in my view.

[Saint Devote]

I wouldn't be surprised if STR dump one of their current drivers halfway through the year and shoehorn Ricciardo in.

That is the worst idea and Ricciardo should refuse any such solicitation. How can you recommend such an action when as you are aware that no testing outside of the simulator is allowed?

In days past when sense prevailed, a driver like Ricciardo could use his off weeks to test for a team during a season. And it was not unusual for teams to run drivers for an entire grand prix distance each time.

If you really want Ricciardo to succeed let him have his time in FR3.5 and maybe GP2. There really is no rush.

[ShiftingGears]

How can you recommend such an action when as you are aware that no testing outside of the simulator is allowed?

Are you suggesting I would recommend it?

[jens]

I wouldn't be surprised if STR dump one of their current drivers halfway through the year and shoehorn Ricciardo in.

I suspect such scenario as well, it would be very tostesque... though the problem for Ricciardo would be that he is the man, who is going to be dumped mid-2011. :erm:

[millencolin]

I'm surprised an Australian didn't start this thread.

You guys are lagging!

There is no doubting that danny is a talented driver, and could be an F1 candidate of the future, but all of the current crop of rookies (except Kamui Kobayashi) have been, well, disappointing.

I think he needs a bit more experience first in more higher powered machines. I just hope he doesn't do a Davidson/patritzi and come home to the v8supercars.

Give him time, the boy will come good. Just when Webber is on the out (and i hope that day never comes :p )

[woody2goody]

There is no doubting that danny is a talented driver, and could be an F1 candidate of the future, but all of the current crop of rookies (except Kamui Kobayashi) have been, well, disappointing.

Buemi says hello... :D

[Ranger]

Buemi says hello... :D

As far as I know he was also the only '09 rookie to have done any significant testing before racing.

That alone is such a colossal advantage that there's almost no comparison.

[ioan]

Haven't heard much about this youngster but today in testing he kicked butt and took names !! So if he didn't have a major car advantage they should probably consider moving him into a testing role this year at Red Bull or even driver at Toro!

Testing is just testing, it means nothing in terms of ultimate speed and Badoer is the living proof to that.

[keysersoze]

Testing is just testing, it means nothing in terms of ultimate speed and Badoer is the living proof to that.

I'm not ready to say that testing is a CERTAIN way to determine that a driver is ready, but I'm quite sure that it doesn't mean NOTHING. That is, I believe certain things can be illuminated through testing, and that a team can figure out if a driver is up to the task.

[Ranger]

Testing is just testing, it means nothing in terms of ultimate speed and Badoer is the living proof to that.

The teams can call the shots because they know all the variables and we do not.

Ferrari were not fooled... they knew Badoer's ultimate speed was lacking all along. That's why it took 10 years, 2 injured drivers and a bit of questionable politics from the CEO to get him to finally start a race.

[TheFamousEccles]

In days past when sense prevailed, a driver like Ricciardo could use his off weeks to test for a team during a season. And it was not unusual for teams to run drivers for an entire grand prix distance each time.

If you really want Ricciardo to succeed let him have his time in FR3.5 and maybe GP2. There really is no rush.


+1 :up:

[UltimateDanGTR]

If you really want Ricciardo to succeed let him have his time in FR3.5 and maybe GP2. There really is no rush.

agreed. :up: +2.

drivers need to develop and shouldn't be expected to go from something like F3 or world series by renault straight to F1 (a-la Alguersuari-who only had 1/2 a season in WS by Renault)

A young driver should do at least 1 FULL season in GP2 before being considered for F1 IMO. otherwise you are just taking them on too early (only the absolute greats like Senna can make a jump of 2 series or more straight up to F1 and be a success-but he was different-very different)

[AndyL]

agreed. :up: +2.

drivers need to develop and shouldn't be expected to go from something like F3 or world series by renault straight to F1 (a-la Alguersuari-who only had 1/2 a season in WS by Renault)

A young driver should do at least 1 FULL season in GP2 before being considered for F1 IMO. otherwise you are just taking them on too early (only the absolute greats like Senna can make a jump of 2 series or more straight up to F1 and be a success-but he was different-very different)

I can think of a couple of more recent champions who jumped straight into F1 from national F3/Formula Renault series. One of them never even won the national series :) Vettel also skipped the step below F1. While a career path through GP2 might be the optimum, I don't think it's really necessary.

If you look at the guys who have come through GP2 to F1 so far it's been a bit hit and miss. Hamilton and Rosberg were the hits, Glock and Kovaleinen fair to middling, Speed and Piquet Jr both unsuccessful. Glock was in F1 before GP2 as well of course - is he better now than he was at Jordan? Has he benefitted from being in GP2? An arguable point.

If you pitted all the drivers who came through F3000/GP2 against all the drivers who jumped straight up from a lower series I don't think there would be that much in it performance-wise.

The "no in-season testing" idea changed the situation this year, but we might be seeing the back of that one by the end of the week.

[inimitablestoo]

Does anyone know whether or not you should pronounce the second "i" in Ricciardo? Martin Haven called him "Riccardo" all season on the Channel 4 coverage, but after about a dozen variations of "Alguersuari" the year before I don't know whether I should trust his judgment... :s

[keysersoze]

I can think of a couple of more recent champions who jumped straight into F1 from national F3/Formula Renault series. One of them never even won the national series :) Vettel also skipped the step below F1. While a career path through GP2 might be the optimum, I don't think it's really necessary.

If you look at the guys who have come through GP2 to F1 so far it's been a bit hit and miss. Hamilton and Rosberg were the hits, Glock and Kovaleinen fair to middling, Speed and Piquet Jr both unsuccessful. Glock was in F1 before GP2 as well of course - is he better now than he was at Jordan? Has he benefitted from being in GP2? An arguable point.

If you pitted all the drivers who came through F3000/GP2 against all the drivers who jumped straight up from a lower series I don't think there would be that much in it performance-wise.


Finally, someone has an opinion in this thread that's been backed up with some data (I'm including myself in this criticism). Good point and well-supported.

[CNR]

from what i have red it looks like the plan is for him to take over from mark when he retires or moves team

[TheFamousEccles]

Does anyone know whether or not you should pronounce the second "i" in Ricciardo? Martin Haven called him "Riccardo" all season on the Channel 4 coverage, but after about a dozen variations of "Alguersuari" the year before I don't know whether I should trust his judgment... :s

Yes, you pronounce the "i" in Ricciardo. Never trust the gibbering idiots that pass for commentators (with the exception of a few). Illiteracy and a speech impediment are mandatory for the job. ;)

[inimitablestoo]

Good, thanks :) I've been pronouncing the second "i" all season anyway on exactly that basis :)

[jens]

I can think of a couple of more recent champions who jumped straight into F1 from national F3/Formula Renault series. One of them never even won the national series :) Vettel also skipped the step below F1. While a career path through GP2 might be the optimum, I don't think it's really necessary.

If you look at the guys who have come through GP2 to F1 so far it's been a bit hit and miss. Hamilton and Rosberg were the hits, Glock and Kovaleinen fair to middling, Speed and Piquet Jr both unsuccessful. Glock was in F1 before GP2 as well of course - is he better now than he was at Jordan? Has he benefitted from being in GP2? An arguable point.

If you pitted all the drivers who came through F3000/GP2 against all the drivers who jumped straight up from a lower series I don't think there would be that much in it performance-wise.

The "no in-season testing" idea changed the situation this year, but we might be seeing the back of that one by the end of the week.

Though if we look at recent developments, wise managers tend to keep young drivers in feeder series "long enough" to enable them to mature and this has included GP2. Maybe Hamilton, Hülkenberg could have joined F1 earlier than they did if they really wanted to, but this was never in their plans. I think for instance a EF3->GP2->F1 route has been Hulk's clear strategy pretty much since already 2007. It looks exactly the same case with Bianchi. Red Bull has had a bit different approach with several of their backed drivers (Vettel for instance), preferring WSR over GP2 as the last step before F1.

In the past (ten years ago and more) drivers jumped into F1 straight from F3 more often, but that was also because we didn't have such a thorough feeder series system yet and besides F3000 with often questionable talent pool, national F3 series were the best bet, where to get decent drivers from.

[Ari]

I'm surprised an Australian didn't start this thread.

You guys are lagging!

haha!

Was the first thing I checked when I opened the thread. ;)

[RJL25]

us aussies tend to be massively over-optimistic people sometimes when it comes to our young sporting talent, we always think they are going to be world beaters, so when the Australian motorsport journo's started saying how good Daniel was I tried to hold my excitement back..

.. but over a second clear in testing is a fair indication the kid's "got it" and it's exciting for me to see that a lot of other people from other countries think he has got F1 written all over him too!

I love Webbo! I love his character, his hunger and the fact he is one of a very select few F1 drivers who actually have some personality! But I accept that while he is damn fast, he doesn't have the mental edge to put together a world championship campaign, hopefully Ricciardo can be that guy us Aussie f1 fans have been waiting for?

[RJL25]

I just hope he doesn't do a Davidson/patritzi and come home to the v8supercars.

Patritzi came back to drive V8's because he was crap, and his still crap in a V8.

Davison wasn't crap, one Lewis Hamilton will vouch for that, one of the few who could keep up with and even beat him in the junior formula, but sadly, a too often true story for young Aussies, Will ran out of cash and had to come home, bloke has to make a living though! Can't blame him for choosing V8's

Easily the biggest talent in Australian motorsport at the moment though for mine is Jamie Whincup! Never had the money to go overseas and try his luck, but you europeans would be surprised if he did! The dude has "it" of that their is no question! The guy is just a dead set freak...

[45 Below]

Patritzi came back to drive V8's because he was crap, and his still crap in a V8.

Davison wasn't crap, one Lewis Hamilton will vouch for that, one of the few who could keep up with and even beat him in the junior formula, but sadly, a too often true story for young Aussies, Will ran out of cash and had to come home, bloke has to make a living though! Can't blame him for choosing V8's

Easily the biggest talent in Australian motorsport at the moment though for mine is Jamie Whincup! Never had the money to go overseas and try his luck, but you europeans would be surprised if he did! The dude has "it" of that their is no question! The guy is just a dead set freak...

I presume Will, Alex and James Davison are all brothers? A talented family. Keeping them all in racing overalls must have cost their parents a packet over the years.

Jamies Whincup has been sensational. Did he have much of a background in single seaters? The best-performed Kiwi, Van Gisbergen, was a standout in Formula Ford and then jumped into the wings and slicks Toyota Series and cleaned up there too. I would have loved to have seen him test his skills on a bigger open-wheeler stage but it was his ambition to get into V8s so all power to him.

And to get back on topic - Ricciardo looks the business and most importantly, has grabbed the opportunities that have come his way with both hands. Having said that, I seem to recall Earl Bamber owned him in Formula BMW Asia. Sadly he is now sidelined with the A1GP troubles and looks like he will be back in the Toyota series over the summer so he can keep his hand in single-seaters. Like many of our promising single seaters guys in recent years - Jonny Reid, Daniel Gaunt and Any Knight to name just a few - he will probably end up driving Porsches.

[inimitablestoo]

A quick check on Wikipedia reveals that James is a cousin of Will and Alex, who are indeed brothers. And Wikipedia would never lie... ;)

[RJL25]

And all grandchildren of Lex Davison who was also a talented race driver. Will definetly got the big end of the talent stick in the current generation though!

Jamie whincup came up through carts and formula ford before coming into V8's with Garry Rogers Motorsport, had a very fast or in the wall season and was dropped at seasons end and returned to formula ford, cleaned up and came back into V8's with Tasman, showed a crapload of promise, signed by Triple 8, domination.

[CNR]

And all grandchildren of Lex Davison who was also a talented race driver. Will definetly got the big end of the talent stick in the current generation though!

Jamie whincup came up through carts and formula ford before coming into V8's with Garry Rogers Motorsport, had a very fast or in the wall season and was dropped at seasons end and returned to formula ford, cleaned up and came back into V8's with Tasman, showed a crapload of promise, signed by Triple 8, domination.

Lex Davison Biography
http://www.easternats.com.au/BioLex.htm

http://www.jamesdavison.com.au/bio.htm

James Davison, 22, is a third generation racing driver from Melbourne, Australia. His father Jon Davison was a Formula 5000 racing driver and Grandfather, Lex Davison, was four time winner of the Australian Grand Prix competing against racing greats Bruce Mclaren and Graham Hill.

[patnicholls]

I can think of a couple of more recent champions who jumped straight into F1 from national F3/Formula Renault series. One of them never even won the national series :) Vettel also skipped the step below F1. While a career path through GP2 might be the optimum, I don't think it's really necessary.

If you look at the guys who have come through GP2 to F1 so far it's been a bit hit and miss. Hamilton and Rosberg were the hits, Glock and Kovaleinen fair to middling, Speed and Piquet Jr both unsuccessful. Glock was in F1 before GP2 as well of course - is he better now than he was at Jordan? Has he benefitted from being in GP2? An arguable point.

If you pitted all the drivers who came through F3000/GP2 against all the drivers who jumped straight up from a lower series I don't think there would be that much in it performance-wise.



Good points, although for many years the stats on 'F1 champions not coming from F3000/GP2' were significantly negatively skewed by one guy hogging the F1 title - I think he's been in the news again recently, something about a comeback? :)

When you factor in World Series by Renault (Alonso was champ in 1999 prior to a season in F3000, Kubica in 2005 as well as Heikki prior to GP2 and Vettel who led the champ prior to coming to F1 mid-season) most of the F1 guys now have come through either F3000, WSbR or GP2 in some way with only a few exceptions, so there are bound to be hits and misses.

As for Ricciardo, definitely looks like a prospect for a couple of years and he'll be in WSbR with former champion team Tech 1 in 2010. Probably need to give him a year or two before F1 comes properly knocking (assuming he does well), a bit like how Nico Hulkenberg came to our attention in A1GP and then needed a little more time.

[RJL25]

except Red Bull have a bit of a track record of rushing guys into F1 very early, sometimes too early... while I'd love to see Daniel in an STR car by mid season (let's face it STR fire at least one driver every season) I just hope when he does get the chance it isn't too early and he stuffs up