P1 with Matt and Tommy - Daniel Ricciardo is BACK in F1!!

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

It's official: Daniel Ricciardo has returned, replacing Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri for the remainder of the season. We discuss the fallout around one of the biggest stories of the season so far! Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to an emergency P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Yes, we are here today to talk about the news that escalated so unbelievably quickly that Daniel Ricardo has returned to Formula One replacing Nick DeVries with immediate effect. I don't feel like we've had any news, Tommy, anywhere near this level of news this year, finally we get some. Yes. Apologies to Nick DeVries because obviously, you know,

this is the hype and excitement that Formula One fans have needed and it's a shame for Nick that he's lost his seat. But oh my word, we've been starving of any kind of silly season spice, if you like, this season and no real major news.

And this has been an absolute bombshell. And like you say, it's gone from reports in the media to this news is going to be announced any second and we're recording it now and by the time you're listening to this it will be official absolutely insane yeah we cannot believe this is happening and i just want to take this moment to gloat to absolutely gloat now some of you will say a broken clock is right twice a day we do make a lot of predictions but i caught this lando norris pole position or me predicting at the start of the year

that Nick DeFries will be replaced by Daniel Ricardo. What would have been better? Oh, I think this one, because... This one. Let's not forget. This was done in February, this prediction. I went back and found out, posted it on our Twitter account. I'm sure our lovely video editor will play a clip for you now.

I think that Nick DeVries could lose his race seat to Daniel Ricardo. Oh, spicy. Tadda! Tada! but you predict to this in February and this is when Nick DeFries seemed like the most hyped man I got bought into

you know I predict him ahead of Yuki because I got bought into the whole oh he's so good and he's so experienced and he's really hardworking and all this kind of stuff but he's not been good and yeah he was very hyped at this point and you said that he would be replaced by Daniel

Ricardo at not even just the fact that you said he'd lose his seat first the fact that he said Daniel Ricardo were replaced him which I never saw happening because I thought Daniel Ricardo would not take the downgrade because for me, it is a little bit embarrassing that he left Red Bull for a new venture and now he's wound his way back to the team that he pretty much, not quite, because it was HRT, but the Red Bull junior team that he started is pretty much with his career with. So, wow, this is crazy. I can't believe this is happening. I can't. I can't either. This is absolutely ridiculous. Because as much

as I made that prediction, I wasn't like this is absolutely going to happen, but it was if this happens, maybe it'll be this and this. And it has happened. Now, let's ask the question, did Nick DeFries deserve to keep a seat? And we actually put that to you on social media. Tommy, you have the results of the poll. I do. The results of the poll are that it is basically changing as we speak. I only tweeted it four minutes ago. We've had 2,000 people voting and it is literally changing from 50-50 and then going in favour of yes, no, yes, no. Absolutely crazy. So this is quite, quite divisive. You know, it is savage that Nick DeVries has been booted already. We've seen his teammate Yuki Snowda get a lot more time after having, you could argue, just as bad of a season. So it is brutal, but yeah,

well, we'll get into why they've done it and what we think is what we think is, what we think is the reason for it. Well, we asked everyone else. Why don't we ask ourselves as well, Tommy? I mean, you've kind of posed that question. For me, did Nick DeVries deserve to keep his seat? Probably. I think that, what, it's been 10 races,

and it is on the savage side of things. Yuki Sunoda has had a few decent results, although a lot of them we have spoken about just outside the points. So if you were to look at it at face value, it's not like Sunoda is raking in loads of points and Nick DeVries isn't. But that being said, we also discussed this,

and there's not really much to lose for Red Bull, Alpha Tauri, to get rid of DeVries and put someone else in. Because realistically, Nick DeVries needed to enter that team and start beating Yuki Sonoda. That was what he had to do. It is his rookie season, give him some time. But also, he has to show that potential in a team that we know can be incredibly savage.

That is just the way the Red Bull Driver Academy has always worked. Of course, Nick DeVries, you know, coming from the mess. decide and whatnot. But in terms of just the Red Bull Inner Workings, that's always been the way. Savage, perform or get out. And look, they've got Daniel Ricardo in the wings.

Perhaps they want to start measuring just how good Yuki Sanoda is as well. Absolutely. Perhaps start to maybe warm up that seat for him eventually at Red Bull. Who knows? Does Danny Rick just enter the team and start smashing Yuki Sonoda?

That's another big question we're going to have to wait for the answer for. But for me, did he deserve to keep his seat the emotional side of me says yes but he also did nothing to say that he should keep that seat. No, and this is really brutal and savage

but and this is an insane thing to say but 28 years old in Formula One as a new boy is actually quite old. So that will be part of Red Bulls thinking I'm sure as well that it's not even like oh, you know, give him two. three more years. Like, look at Yuki Sonoda. He got more time, but he was 20 when he came in.

So they go, oh, you know, he'll improve, whereas Nick DeVries doesn't have time on his side. And he went in there to fill a seat. And I wonder if Nick DeVries actually came in to be the benchmark for them to assess Yuki Sonoda. And it's not actually worked out. Nick DeVries had a bit of a shocker. And I think that is the main thing that you said, the reason this has been done is so they put Daniel Ricardo in and then Yuki Snoda can actually be the one that they benchmark. They're like they, it's a good way to assess. They'll be benchmarking both, right?

Yeah, exactly. They'll be benchmarking both because you got Danny Rick in the wings. Is he so much better? Has he been able to shake off this McLaren not driving well style that they sort of spoke about? And oh no, he's back in the sim now at Red Bull. getting rid of all these bad habits that he's picked up that they'd been saying since he's joined, or rejoined Red Bull.

But yeah, because a fascinating thing that we've not even mentioned. I imagine a lot of people haven't been thought about yet. But Sergio Perez is not delivering. And, you know, Daniel Ricardo comes in. Yuki Snowda absolutely annihilates him every race. They might go, go on then, Yuki.

You can have Checo seat. You never know with Red Bull. This is the thing. Or the other side. Daniel Ricardo comes in. he's amazing and they go, well, actually, we think Daniel Ricardo is going to do a better job than what Checo is doing at the moment. So I think in a weird way, this also makes Sergio Perez sweat a bit because they're basically

doing the first piece of the puzzle to assess two more drivers in this Red Bull program. And we know how it works. You start Alfa Tauri or in Daniel Ricardo's case. Alva Tauri, Red Bull, somewhere else, back to Alf Tauri. But you start there and the whole point of it is that you hopefully eventually get to the Red Bull team. So, oh, this is spicy. And it's crazy because, yeah, I've missed driver news excitement, to be honest. And just generally news, sort of exciting and spicy news, it feels like we haven't had any this season.

No, not at all. Outside of the races. So thank you, Danny Ricardo, for deciding to take the step down and go back to Alfa Tauri, which let's not forget here is a backmarker team. Yeah, they're terrible. It is not good. This is like him joining Minardi from many, many years ago. This is like him joining a Williams from a few years ago.

They're last. Are they not? Yeah, they are doing terribly. So it's going to be very interesting to see if he jumps in the car. And actually, it's not as bad of a car as those two drivers are saying. And there's all kinds of different storylines that need to be. sort of, yeah, unfolded, and I can't wait to see how that goes. Question from Sep underscore Iax.

Why doesn't Nick DeVries at least even deserve half a season to prove himself? Isn't it unfair that he's getting axed because of his struggles in a car that is rarely worthy of points anyways? And I think one thing that you said, Tommy, there, was that he's 28 years old. This isn't a development curve in terms of maturity or whatever. He should be, as he's proved, Formula E champion, he's driven lots of different disciplines of cars. He had to jump in straight away and perform.

And that's the problem of being that old. There isn't lots of time for him to develop and so on and so forth, you know, just from nature's perspective. And also... And he had to beat Yuki. Yeah, he had to come in and beat Yuki. He had to beat Yuki. He hasn't.

He's made a lot of mistakes. He's crashed. He's spun. I can see Frank in the background. He wants to talk about Nick DeFries as well, I think. And also on the other side to it, as much as it's great that Red Bull have two teams, it also means that they can have this revolving door a lot more than other teams that

that only have one team and two seats. So they can play around the little bit. Alpha Tower is shocking. Right. Let's just try a different. Let's try Daniel Ricardo. Let's maybe try Liam Lawson. Who knows what's going to happen?

But yeah, as I said earlier, I don't think Nick DeVries showed any kind of promise for Red Bull to go, there, you know what? Let's give him a full season and see if he can develop. he hasn't been good enough and I don't think he'll be surprised either for well-knowing what the Red Bull family can be like. Yeah, it is really brutal

but you have to be incredibly savage and go at 28 years old is Nick DeVries going to be the next big thing and the answer is no, unfortunately. You know, you've got, you've got, it's mad to think Max O'Sastappen is three years younger than Nick DeVries and has, you know,

42 wins now under his belt. So it's not the kind of the way that Red Bull do things. Or sadly, for older drivers, I guess, Formula One does it. You kind of need to be good around that age and have a good long career. And this is the thing. I mean, it's funny you mentioned Liam Lawson. Penny for his thoughts now, because that man has been doing a good job. in the junior series, Red Bull have been that,

um, weirdly in, in history, Red Bull junior program has been that one where you kind of take the fact that they're very savage and knowing when you get to Formula one, they can be brutal. But they're,

they're the driver program that you think if you actually deliver, you are the, that is the most likely one. You're going to get a seat. And he must be like, well, you're now picking another older driver that's been in Formula one or, like why are why am I not getting a go here?

Does that suggest that Red Bull are genuinely looking at Yuki Sonoda as the next driver to take over from Perez? Because how I see that is that Daniel Ricardo coming in as a measurement is much better because he has Grand Prix under his belt. He's a race winner. He knows how to perform. Whereas if you bring Liam Lawson into that seat, there's no guarantee that Lawson's going to be amazing.

He might well be. But that is again a sort of necessary. stab in the dark for Red Bull, whereas they know what Daniel Ricardo can do. Can do. They know if he's underperforming by just looking at the telemetry and so on and so forth. So they have a measurement scale there for Danny Rick. So it's interesting because I think if you're Liam Lawson, as you say, you start scratching your head and going, do Red Bull genuinely want me to be in Formula One?

Because that that is an opening that he could have slotted into. But for me, that shows that Yuki Sanoda is potentially that next step for Red Bull. Yeah, and this is where Yuki has to step up and deliver. Because like you say, if they got Lawson in and he did rubbish like Nick DeVries, they'd still kind of go, well, are these guys just not very good and they're rookies and learning? How do we know, you know, Yuki's any good? Whereas I think that Daniel Ricardo going in is an experienced Formula One driver that they can compare with Yuki, even though, yeah, he's not done the season or driven that car.

but it's still a benchmark. So it's weird to have this whole, there's so many interesting side stories to this as well. It's not just the excitement of DeVries out Daniel Ricardo in and Daniel Ricardo's return. But it's going to be fascinating to see what that does with Yuki Sanoda and Sojo Perez as well. Like that could be like, this makes it sound like on one of those weird conspiracy theories, from like this could be the key to all of this. And it actually is like this could be the meme of the little domino

falling to Yuki Sonoda world champion when Max I think it's a Logan Sargent world champion somehow. Yuki Sanoda world champion 2027 when Max Verstappen's won a thousand races and is bored and just goes off and plays eye racing instead. And Yuki Snowda is the number one driver at Red Bull. Now let's not forget also as well,

the very savage podcast interview that Helmut Marco had where he spoke about disagreeing with Christian Horner about drivers and it was Nick DeVries that was the disagreement between those two as the most recent one that he mentioned

and clearly yeah Helmut Marco has probably looked at that and gone okay no, all right, let's get rid of him yeah did I not say when we were discussing that actually Helmut Marco probably does want to fire him because it makes him look like

I know the right thing to do here and it has like proved it but then I guess the fact that Christian was actually the one this time that didn't want him and I mean that was brutal surely Nick DeVries then when he heard that news like

this isn't going well for me you saw the sharks starting to patrol around him next question Fitzsimmons underscore Joe won genuinely what's the point the car isn't particularly good and it will take Daniel Ricardo

a while to get used to the car, and then it will almost be the end of the season. I think it would make more sense to keep DeVries until the end of the season and then evaluate him then. But that's the crucial thing. They're done evaluating him. They've given him 10 races. He had to jump in. He had to perform.

He didn't. They don't want to give him two, three years to start developing. They've already done that with Yuki Sanoda. They don't need another driver to start the development phase where Yuki was and where it's mistakes and this, that and the other. And the fact we keep saying his age as well, that's not what they need. need. They need a Daniel Ricardo in there potentially to, as we said, measure, benchmark and then see if Yuki's the goat or if Daniel Ricardo deserves the seat back to Red Bull. Because it is a 1v1.

I don't think it is literally just Daniel Ricardo going in as a, like an actual ruler to measure. He himself is a very talented individual. People are writing him off because of McLaren. And I thought it was going to be difficult for him to get a top drive. But the fact that he swallowed his pride a little bit, he's going to go back to quite literally a backmarker team and if he starts to perform again other teams might sit up and take notice and go okay that was just a blip in his career because people seem to like turn their nose up at his time

at Renault for example and I'm like no he was actually very good at Renault he was and it's very easy to forget those moments and of course he was incredibly good at Red Bull when he was first with Verstappen and was a match for him sometimes as well so yes let's not write off Danny Rick as well he's not just there to be a tool in Red Bulls measuring process, but I think it does show that they're looking at Yuki.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, we've kind of already answered that question that, what's the point? It's because they need to kind of assess. I mean, Al-Fa-Tauri season is terrible. The car is not very good. They seem to be going backwards. Maybe as well, having a more experienced drive like Daniel Ricardo in that seat,

he could help develop them and push them forward as a team as well and everything that he knows from the main team at Red Bull. And he's been driving that car today and spinning off, but we won't talk about that at the very same corner. He spun off at the same corner, Nick DeVries did. But I think they were, I think that it was because they were evaluating the no tire blankets that they're going to do, I think, maybe. But it is quite a funny narrative that he's about to replace Nick DeVries

and then spun off at the very corner at Silverstone that Nick DeVries did in FP1. Right, next question. At Keys underscore corner lists. Do you think Ricardo will do significantly better than DeVries? Because it seems to me that the car is really awful. And considering Ricardo didn't do particularly well at McLaren, besides the Monza win, I have doubts he'll do well now.

All right. I'm going to go out on a whim here right now and say that Daniel Ricardo will do as good as Sonoda, if not slightly better for the rest of the season. Straight up, back in my boy. Love him to pieces. I think he'll be on a level with Yuki. I think that's probably a safer bet, but I don't think he's going to be far off. Oh, that's interesting.

I've not really thought about that in my head. It's really difficult because, and this is exactly, when I put my, like, when I try and think how we'll be against Sonoda, I think this is exactly why Red Bull are doing it and kind of answers the question why they're doing it. It's because we can't tell at the start of the year if Yuki was the absolute goat and that Alphotari was awful. And him actually finishing 11th was him dragging. that car to where it shouldn't be.

Or, you know, the Alvatari could be better with a couple of better drivers in there. So I will say that Daniel Ricardo comes in there and, yeah, matches Sonoda, maybe beats him on the odd occasion where, you know, we have seen Yuki still have those moments where it gets a little bit too, yeah, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, rookie Yuki Sonoda comes back where it's a bit hot-headed and things like that. But maybe as well, it might not even be a bad thing that they might be assessing Yuki as just someone that can learn from Daniel Ricardo as well. Maybe they are really backing him because I've got to think Yuki Sonoda had, they gave

him a lot of time for a team that are so known for. Yeah, but then they're. I know, I know, but then it's weird because they're, they're kind of ditching Honda again. So, yeah, but when he was, when he was there, when he first came in, that would have been the reason why they kept him. But this to me still seems like they do believe in him. And, oh, I just, I just can't wait for Hungary now. It's going to be like one of those things.

They're just really fascinating to watch because Al-Fatari haven't been fascinating to watch because they're normally just washed at the back. but it's going to be another interesting narrative that plays out through the season of how well Ricardo does against Yuki. Absolutely. Final question. At Chaba Lutre.

Will Danny only be a six-month replacement? I think so, and I think he can be a sort of a mentor for Yuki too. Do you guys think he's a suitable option for Red Bull's future? I'm undecided about whether Sonoda genuinely is a driver of the future, the next Vestap and Leclair, Russell, Hamilton, whatever,

Alonzo. I'm not really convinced right now. I don't think he's done enough to really prove that. But I think in Red Bulls' eyes, as we said throughout this podcast, they see that potential. Do I think Danny's going to be a six-month replacement? I mean, of course, he's not coming back, I think, just for half a year and going to be like, right, I'm off now. That's kind of, you know, quenched my thirst.

I'm now just going to go chill for the rest of my life. He's going to come back, I think, with the bit between his teeth. I think that's the phrase. And he's going to be fighting for his survival in Formula One. like Danny has half a season to prove that he still belongs in Formula One and I think he'll, I think he'll do all right. He has to. He has to show that he can do it.

And I know we're saying he assesses Yuki, but this is all to assess Yuki. But if Daniel Riccardo comes in, obliterates Yuki Sonoda and is, you know, so far clear he's putting the Alphotauri 9th and 10th every race when Yuki's finishing 13th, 14th, 15th, then Sergio Perez, you know, if he carries on on this run of not making Q3, absolutely, like, I'd say next year, if that does happen, they wouldn't be afraid to put Daniel Ricardo in back in because he's a very similar age to Sergio Perez. It's only a couple of years older.

So it's not like Sergio is a young driver that they want to keep on and think, oh, you know, develop him more and stuff. So this is this is as much of a rehearsal for Daniel Ricardo. This could be the chance to end up, you know, not only back in Formula One, but in that Red Bull that everyone is saying is, you know, an unbelievable car. They've won 11 races in a row now, which is the record joint with McLaren back in the 80s. So it's crazy to think that we were only on that stage at Silverstone two days ago. And I think I said that I don't think we'll see Daniel Ricardo back in Formula One.

And not only is he now back in Formula One. He does genuinely have an opportunity to get back in that Red Bull now, I think, if he really, really does well here. It's going to be so good. So basically washed opinions from Tom Bellingham as always. I think we both thought that he wasn't going to start. swallow his pride. He did. And he's back. So that is that. Thank you everybody for watching and listening to this emergency podcast to talk about Daniel Ricardo returning to Formula One, replacing Nick DeVries at the Hungarian Grand Prix. I'm excited because I love Daniel Ricardo

with every fibre of my being. And I cannot wait to see how he does. He's not going to be able to have any kind of, you know, adjusting or there's no phase for him to settle into the team. It is straight out the blocks. Danny, you've got to perform. And I certainly hope he does. What's your final thoughts, Tommy? My final thoughts are just how exciting it is to have a bit of driver news and how much we love the sport. This just shows how much we love the sport outside of the racing as well, because we just love the narrative of the season and how everything's, you know, panned out and I'm sure someone else that's absolutely

licking their lips right now will be Drive to Survive because oh my God they're going to have an absolute field day with not only spicy driver transfer but it is the poster boy of Drive to Survivors well Danny Rick back so it's going to be fascinating right we'll see you very soon for another piece of content

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