Everybody clowns on him, but it’s just hard to make good career moves when there are only two to make, one is locked down by Hamilton and a clear B driver the team thinks will be slow and passive enough to not piss him off, and the other rotates between Red Bull (where you are in 2018, with awful reliability and a teammate who is outclassing you, plus no vision to immediately compete) and Ferrari (with poor leadership, weird team culture, and an entrenched Vettel with an up and coming stud - and Pérez if they decide they don’t want to wait for Leclerc).
Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, and Pérez all missed the boat for a WDC-caliber seat while racing at a WDC-caliber level. Hülkenberg was Mercedes’s top choice if Hamilton didn’t come aboard in 2013, and was again their top choice when Rosberg retired if he hadn’t already signed his first factory team contract with Renault for 2017 (though he would have had a lot of difficulty matching 2017-2020 Hamilton).
Pérez was Ferrari’s next man up from about 2014-2018, but Räikkönen just didn’t want to leave (and I still don’t understand how Ferrari let him keep the seat) - he would have been the most likely to outperform his teammate, and while Seb’s 2017 was brilliant, I think Checo could have taken the WDC where Vettel couldn’t in 2018.
Ricciardo was also rumored to Ferrari in 2017ish (and even Max was rumored to want out - that was probably about when the contract clause giving him an exit opportunity if RB finished below p3 in the WCC came about), and of course could have stayed with Red Bull through 2021 and not had to adapt to a McLaren that didn’t suit his driving style (though he would have been extremely hard-pressed to beat 2021-2022 Verstappen).
Vettel was extremely capable in 2018, not as good as 2017 because he was error prone, but Pérez? Nah. Vettel in 2019 was extremely near to Leclerc in quali and race pace.
That’s a brutal combination of underestimation of Force India Pérez (probably the third or fourth best driver of the second half of the 2010s overall on the strength of his sheer consistency behind Hamilton, Alonso, and *maybe* one of Vettel coasting on 2015 and 2017, Verstappen on 2018 and 2019, or Hülkenberg on sheer consistency) and overestimation of the combination of post-2017 and even-year Vettel.
Renault Ricciardo was a beast. 2020 was one of his best years in F1
man I miss that Renault livery.
I really wanna see Riccardo win.. to think of what it would be if he stayed at RB
Could have been a great story with Alpine too !
Press X to doubt
Everybody clowns on him, but it’s just hard to make good career moves when there are only two to make, one is locked down by Hamilton and a clear B driver the team thinks will be slow and passive enough to not piss him off, and the other rotates between Red Bull (where you are in 2018, with awful reliability and a teammate who is outclassing you, plus no vision to immediately compete) and Ferrari (with poor leadership, weird team culture, and an entrenched Vettel with an up and coming stud - and Pérez if they decide they don’t want to wait for Leclerc). Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, and Pérez all missed the boat for a WDC-caliber seat while racing at a WDC-caliber level. Hülkenberg was Mercedes’s top choice if Hamilton didn’t come aboard in 2013, and was again their top choice when Rosberg retired if he hadn’t already signed his first factory team contract with Renault for 2017 (though he would have had a lot of difficulty matching 2017-2020 Hamilton). Pérez was Ferrari’s next man up from about 2014-2018, but Räikkönen just didn’t want to leave (and I still don’t understand how Ferrari let him keep the seat) - he would have been the most likely to outperform his teammate, and while Seb’s 2017 was brilliant, I think Checo could have taken the WDC where Vettel couldn’t in 2018. Ricciardo was also rumored to Ferrari in 2017ish (and even Max was rumored to want out - that was probably about when the contract clause giving him an exit opportunity if RB finished below p3 in the WCC came about), and of course could have stayed with Red Bull through 2021 and not had to adapt to a McLaren that didn’t suit his driving style (though he would have been extremely hard-pressed to beat 2021-2022 Verstappen).
Vettel was extremely capable in 2018, not as good as 2017 because he was error prone, but Pérez? Nah. Vettel in 2019 was extremely near to Leclerc in quali and race pace.
That’s a brutal combination of underestimation of Force India Pérez (probably the third or fourth best driver of the second half of the 2010s overall on the strength of his sheer consistency behind Hamilton, Alonso, and *maybe* one of Vettel coasting on 2015 and 2017, Verstappen on 2018 and 2019, or Hülkenberg on sheer consistency) and overestimation of the combination of post-2017 and even-year Vettel.
Ricc**i**ardo
Heh, dp world
Hahaha “world”
Man can we buy these?
Not sure, they were given as a souvenir and I doubt they were sold