AngusF1 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2018, 11:20
He could well desire a #1 spot highly, that's a fairly reasonable assessment. And.... as he should! It's looking like the end years of the current formula (2019-2020) will be highly competitive and that a #1 status will be very very handy for winning a championship. Ricciardo deserves one of those positions.
You guys are mad. There is no #1 status.
Such a status would be limiting to the team itself, if for whatever reason, the #2 guy significantly outperforms the #1, or if for whatever reason through circumstance, sheer luck or silly mistakes, the #1 ends up behind. To then be limited by a contractual agreement where a #1 and #2 are stipulated makes little sense, for any team.
What could be stipulated might be better support, better engineers, priority on updates etc, but even those are highly subjective and not enforceable in reality. Which are the better engineers in a pond of 100ths of employees? Are the newer updates always better? In the end, every team is the employer and the team is greater than one or two drivers. If you have the 3rd best car on the grid and arguably the best chassis and potential to supply a championship winning car, the drivers come to you and not the other way around. Why on earth should a driver who has 1.) never won a championship 2.) being mostly beaten in qualifying have any leverage in asking for a supposedly better status within the team that isn't enforceable anyway?
It makes zero sense.
In the end, these contracts come down to salary, duration and exit clauses and marketing time/commitments. They perhaps also stipulate a certain amount of 'freedom' for engagement on track against your team-mate. E.g. does the contract stipulate that they are free to race or if it's up to the team to make that determination by team-orders. This could be important, but if the team you are hoping to sign a lucrative contract for happens to be a desirable one, how much leverage and bargaining worth as a driver can you bring to the table?
Fact of the matter is; Max has been faster. He may be less consistent, prone to more errors, but the qualifying battle is quite shattering to Daniel even if you discount the technical issues that prevented him of a fair fight. That's the reality of it. It doesn't mean Daniel is slow, is also slower on race pace, doesn't have his worth or that he isn't still one of the best drivers on the grid. He may well be, but against Max and on 1-lap pace, there is that risk that his stock and attractiveness towards other teams might take a hit if he continues to be comprehensively beaten.
So in the end, it's good for Dan, that he frees himself from the RedBull family. RB have shown time and time again how ruthless they are if they are unhappy with ones performance. Kvyat is testament to that, but also earlier drivers too (Hartley, Buemi etc) that got the axe. By going to Renault and measuring himself against perhaps a potentially slower but known quality driver (Hulkenberg), his stock may increase and make him a more probable candidate for 2021.
Lastly, I'd also like to note that I can't remember any blatant favoritism against Daniel Ricciardo. Even in 2014, he had the full support of the team, even against the 4 time WDC champion driving alongside him. They allowed him to race, they allowed him to pass and on occasion also allowed him by through team-orders. This should be evidence enough that there was no #1 status stipulated in any contract, not even for the 4 time WDC champion. Why should there be now in regards to either Dan or Max?
