This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
runningmanz wrote:Saying people only support a driver because of nationality when they are not at their best (consistently in this case currently) is at best a wild guess and at worst quite disrespectful. Dan has done alot for Vcarb in regards to development direction and input and is capable as shown multiple times of putting the car much higher up the grid than Yuki has. He just has to do it more consistently like at Renault in 2020 after they unlocked the cars potential with Dans input which I suspect is what they are currently working towards and lines up with Mekies recent statements about getting the car more to Dan's liking which is also the same as what Yuki likes as well.
Its been mentioned numerous times by various staff at RBR, AT/Vcarb and Renault how important his contributions have been to improving the teams and also car performance. Its of significant value to the team and also having a senior driver with alot experience also benefits the younger driver and is exactly what the team in its new guise has stated they are looking for. Lawson is no guarantee of success nor does he bring on the whole more value to the team than Ricciardo or is what Vcarb are currently looking for alongside Yuki.
So, Ric is supposedly irreplaceable, yet not a single team is interested in hiring him? This is going to the point that Red Bull no longer has a junior team that breeds talent; it's a PR team and an F1 driver's graveyard. Lawson achieved good results as a rookie in the middle of the season, so I don't know what Red Bull is looking for. You're never going to find talents if you don't give them a chance. Good luck when Max decides to leave, so Horner will have that Pérez-Ricciardo lineup.
When has Ricciardo had a decent season in F1? His last decent performance was in 2020. How many years does one driver need to get back to that "own level"? Not many drivers get a four-year grace period and still keep going. Thanks to Horner. This is ridiculous when people just won't accept Ric can't drive this era's cars.
Considering the time he did in the RB19 test at Silverstone would have been good enough for him to start the race on the front row alongside Max, and he put last years TR alongside Max in Mexico, your arguments don’t stack up.
Yes, he needs to get his head straight and produce consistent results, but the indications are that he’s turned that corner.
De Vries effect. They hire him based on one race and what was the result?
If you drive "good results" in private tests it doesn't doesn't help if you get beaten by Tsunoda.
Nope, not even close, they hired him based on extensive sim work, the Silverstone test and his results prior to his time at MacLaren.
Despite their cars being dogs, he still beat Norris to a Maclaren win by 2 years.
Although Ric won at McLaren, he still got fired from the team. I think Ric has the same role as Pérez: PR. That's why they are driving in the Red Bull organization. In the era of Mateschitz, they would have been fired a long time ago when the organization was based on performance, not PR or money.
The upgrade doesn’t seem to be working that well so far, the Williams is 4/10ths faster in FP3 (with 3 mins to go).
Edit: with all the stupidity / road rage on track, Daniel didn’t make it around in time for a final qually sim lap. I couldn’t see what happened to Yuki’s final attempt, but I suspect the same thing happened to him.
RB does well on a track were the corners are similar like imola i dont believe they are slower than sauber or alpine.barcelona has a diverse rage of corners making set up tricky.
There was an interview with Bayer on German Sky today, who said that they aren't able to use the new rear wing, so this setup is a bit of a compromise, and doesn't show the full potential.
About next year, he mentioned that they will do a test with Lawson in the end of July, and likely come to a decision about their driver pairing afterwards.
“It’s fair to say that despite the hard work by everyone and changes made overnight, combined with initial feedback on the updates highlighting that on a macro level they have broadly met expectations, we have not been able to extract enough from the car so far here in Barcelona. With the midfield battle being so close, it’s very easy to go to the back of the group if you are struggling, which is what we have unfortunately seen today. In terms of car balance, there has been some improvement. This alone has not been enough, so clearly, we have a lot of homework to do tonight, but also ahead of Austria, to extract more from the car and a large part of this work will be analysing in detail the aero data we have gathered here in Barcelona. On the flip side, both drivers have done a good job of supporting the engineering team with feedback on the numerous test items we have evaluated here and also extracting the maximum from the cars we have been able to provide them with, so we have plenty of data to work with to make the necessary steps forward.”
Daniel Ricciardo #3
Third Practice Session – Best lap: 1:14.161, pos. 16th, 17 laps
Qualifying – Best lap: (Q1) 1:13.075, pos. 18th
“It’s a tricky weekend. We have a lot of new parts on the car, and we still need to understand the best way to make them work. After yesterday, when we were still finding a bit of balance, we made pretty big changes overnight and today in qualifying the car felt much more together. We made progress in terms of feeling and balance, but unfortunately, we’re still in a tough spot in terms of the stopwatch. Being out of Q1 with both cars, especially using three sets of soft each, shows that at the moment, we don’t have the pace. There’s still more to find and we’ll keep chipping away. Tomorrow is going to come around quick, but we have a few races ahead of us with similar track characteristics, so we obviously need to figure out together the things we’re missing.”
Yuki Tsunoda #22
Third Practice Session – Best lap: 1:14.420, pos. 18th, 22 laps
Qualifying – Best lap: (Q1) 1:12.985, pos. 17th
“We’ve been struggling with pace this weekend and tried multiple things to try and improve, and in the end, I felt better in qualifying than in Free Practice. At least I’m happy with my lap and feel like I was able to maximise the current package. The last races have been going well and even if it’s a shame, I think it’s important that we’re facing this more difficult moment together as a team. It’s a good opportunity to learn from our struggles and grow as a team. The most important thing is to remain positive, and we certainly will.”
Great updates! 
