WHO WILL REPLACE RICCIARDO?
Little more than a week ago, nobody at Red Bull was giving a moment’s thought about who would partner Max Verstappen in 2019. The lengthy negotiation process with Daniel Ricciardo was as good as complete and it was a question of when, not if, he signed a new deal. Then Ricciardo shocked them – and several other drivers – by doing a deal to move to Renault.
Two drivers are at the front of the queue for the seat. Carlos Sainz Jr, who joined Renault on loan last year and who can still be recalled for another month to Red Bull, is the obvious choice. He has four years of experience in Formula 1, has proved himself capable of delivering superb results in middling machinery and would be the obvious plug-in-and-play option. But there is history there, and it’s precisely such history that led the Red Bull management to feel that promoting Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly, should Ricciardo go, is an option.
Sainz forced his way out of Toro Rosso last year because he was understandably impatient. An unprecedented fourth season in Red Bull’s ‘B-team’ didn’t appeal and, with every chance that the Ricciardo/max Verstappen alliance would continue indefinitely, Sainz justifiably wanted to seek an alternative. This rubbed some at Red Bull up the wrong way. That, combined with a perception that the relationship between Verstappen and Sainz in 2015 and early ’16 at Toro Rosso was difficult, makes life difficult for Sainz as he seeks a way back in.
Gasly has impressed this season, picking up three big results – fourth in Bahrain, seventh in Monaco and sixth last time out in Hungary – when the package has allowed it.
The 22-year-old will also have a year’s experience with the Honda engine package under his belt going into next year, and has the kind of personality that the team would find easy to accommodate.
But Ricciardo’s surprise move may give Red Bull pause for thought. It was easy to talk of throwing Gasly in when the situation was purely hypothetical. Faced with the reality, Sainz’s experience and track record could make him the more obvious option.
As for alternatives, Fernando Alonso is the only
established gold-standard driver potentially available. But Red Bull has a long history of avoiding Alonso because of the political aggravation it believes he would bring, and that concern would be magnified by the possibility of putting him alongside Verstappen. To sign Alonso would require a complete reversal in Red Bull’s outlook on drivers, as well as require the complication of extracting him from a Toyota World Endurance deal that would clash with Honda. And Alonso and Honda F1 back together? It’s not at all likely.
Red Bull is set to spend a little time considering its options, not least because it is short on drivers for Toro Rosso, since favoured newcomer Dan Ticktum is currently not able to pick up enough superlicence points to race in F1 next year. So taking Gasly out of Toro Rosso would mean it’s looking at putting Sainz back in there (something the Spaniard considers only a last-resort option), retaining Brendon Hartley (a driver it seems to have given up on) or bringing in an outsider – Mclarencontracted duo Lando Norris and Stoffel Vandoorne should certainly appeal.
But the first priority will be the best fit for Red Bull. Realistically, it comes down to Sainz versus Gasly.
“HISTORY WITH VERSTAPPEN MAKES LIFE DIFFICULT FOR SAINZ AS HE SEEKS A WAY BACK IN”