Red Bull Confirms Ricciardo to partner Vettel in 2014!!

As confirmed last week Daniel Ricciardo will partner Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing for the 2014 season. Great opportunity for Ricciardo but lets just hope he does a Lewsi Hamilton (2007) and not become a Grosjean (playing support to Raikkonen). See my last week's post below:

In a few days Red Bull Racing will confirm Daniel Ricciardo as Mark Webber's replacement and the one to partner 3-time (almost 4) World Champion Sebastian Vettel in the 2014 F1 Championship. Personally I think this is a great move by RBR even though many people would have wanted Kimi Raikkonen to partner Vettel. The 4-man think tank of Dietrich Mateschitz, Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey and Christian Horner have decided to go with stability rather upsetting an already proven formula. Let's face it Kimi is one of the fastest drivers on the grid today along with Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton but don't think he will be what RBR want.

One of the main reasons for Vettel and RBR's success is the fact that Vettel has been faster than Webber but not by that much, meaning Webber always brought in the valuable Constructor points. This is something Massa has never been able to do. At the same time the team concentrated more on Vettel making him the defacto Number 1 in the team. While Ricciardo is quick and one to look out for, he will play the role Webber played and at the same time be groomed to take over once Vettel moves to Ferrari (which is inevitable). This will also ensure stability in the team.

Kimi coming in to the team would mean that not only would he start taking points off Vettel but come in the way of the Championship as well. I also don't see Kimi moving over for team orders or helping Vettel win a championship.

The most important part of this move is for Red Bull to prove that their driver program is reaping rewards. Since Vettel was promoted from Toro Rosso to RBR in 2009 none of the other drivers have managed to make an impact leave alone stay in F1 as part of their Red Bull Junior program. This would show that the Red Bull program is still capable of delivering top class drivers.

Ricciardo has rapidly moved up the motorsport ladder over the last couple of years. He won the Formula Renault 2.0 championship in only his third year of single-seater racing before winning the British Formula 3 Championship the following year. He moved on to the highly competitive Formula Renault 3.5 series next and lost out in the final round by just 2 points. He joined HRT for the second half of 2011 before moving to Toro Rosso. He has impressed this year which has resulted in being called up to RBR.

This is a great opportunity and am sure he will grab it with both hands. It might take him 5-6 races  to get up to speed but will give Vettel a run for his money after that. Good to see teams investing in young drivers rather than going for established stars.

So expect an announcement as early as Thursday on this.

Let the Silly Season Begin!!

We are half way through the 2013 F1 season and its that time of the season again - Silly Season!! What is Silly Season you might ask and to make it quite simple, that time of the year when you hear the most silly rumors regarding drivers and teams. This year the main topic for SS is the fight between Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo for the coveted Red Bull Racing seat alongside one Mr. Sebastian Vettel. Another topic which has been going one for the last 4 years in a row is the 'Who will replace Felipe Massa' at Ferrari conversation. But all this has been blown away by Fernando Alonso's manager Luis Abad being seen talking to Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

So let's start with that. Alonso is clearly one frustrated man who has outdriven the car year after year in a quest to win his first F1 title with Ferrari. But year after year the team has let him down. If you actually look at his last 4 years with Ferrari the team has always had a problem developing the car mid-season. What I don;t understand is how year after year a team like Ferrari can have wind tunnel correlation issues. They develop new parts, test it in the simulator, it looks good and when they test it out, the car goes even slower. Having this problem one year is understandable but year after year is unacceptable for a team like Ferrari and Alonso has clearly had enough of this. This is clearly one of the main reasons why Alonso is losing his patience.

The second part and one which might make sense to why Alonso is looking out is the all important 2014 season. With V6 Turbo engines its back to the drawing board for all engine manufacturers. Early reports suggest Mercedes will have the best unit with Renault not far behind and Ferrari a distant third. This might also be the reason why Alonso is looking to get out. But let's face Alonso is going nowhere!! He has the team built around him and with good reason. Would this have caused damage in his relationship with Ferrari? For sure but they need him as much as he needs them

The latest rumour also sees Raikkonen coming back to Ferrari which I don't see happening. One of the main reasons Massa is still there is that they need him to sell their cars in the South American region. This is why they have had a South American driver for the past 13 years. It can't be for his car development or helping Alonso as he is not exactly setting the world on fire in both departments. If Massa does leave I really hope someone like Nico Hulkenberg gets the seat as he will be a great asset to the team. He is quick, mature and has enough years of experience under him.

While the temptation of Raikkonen will be hard to resist for RBR, I do think they will go with Ricciardo. He will be the perfect team-mate for Vettel, fast but a good second driver, and possibly groomed to take over from Vettel in 2016.

With regard to Lotus I do feel they will look more closely at Nico Hulkenberg, if Raikkonen remains or not. Not only will be push Raikkonen but will be a good leader as well. At the same time they will need a bigger name to keep partners happy.

I feel Sahara Force India lost out a but when they lost Hulkenberg this year. They are a good team with good drivers but they need a charismatic and fast leader to take them forward. Di Resta is really quick but has never been able to dominate his team-mates so will never be the outright leader of the team. So amongst the top 5 teams this is how it will look next year in my opinion.

Red Bull Racing: Sebastian Vettel & Daniel Ricciardo/Kimi Raikkonen
Scuderia Ferrari: Fernando Alonso & Felipe Massa
AMG Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg
Lotus Renault: Kimi Raikkonen/Romain Grosjean/Nico Hulkenberg
McLaren Mercedes: Jenson Button & Sergio Perez     

And the Sports Blog returns!! Football season is right around the corner..

So will not waste any time talking about how I plan to regularly blog again but that's exactly what I plan to do. Will do things a  little differently and start with Football this time. League football starts again this weekend with the English Premier League and La Liga (Spanish League) set to kick off. The Bundesliga (German League) and Ligue 1 (French League) kicked off last week with the Serie A (Italian League) kicking off the following weekend.

The summer break is normally famous for two things - Gossip and Rumours about which player is going where!! This summer's headliners have been Wayne Rooney, Luiz Suarez and Gareth Bale. Its less than a month to go before the transfer window closes so we will have all out answers by then. Rooney to Chelsea will be mega and you can be assured Mourinho will take him to new heights, which may be a good thing for Rooney. Suarez going to Real Madrid makes sense but not sure how he will benefit going to Arsenal. Bale to Real is a question of when rather than if.

If you look at all the summer transfers one thing that is evident this year is the fact that not many players are keen for a move to the EPL. Not sure whether it is just money or the team. The Ligue 1 got both Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao, two of the best strikers in the world. La Liga got Neymar, Bundesliga got Thiago Alcantra and Serie A got Gonzalo Higuain. So why isn't any player keen to play in the EPL, which is easily one of the best competitive leagues in the world??

With the EPL kicking off this weekend it will be a 5 way battle with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham fighting it out. With 3 new managers and Arsene Wenger and Andre Villa-Boas this league promises to be a thriller. If Arsenal cannot make big signings in the next two weeks they will definitely not challenge for a top 3 spot.

While most people are putting their money on Chelsea, I feel the team is too young and will need more time to mature. Yes I know Jose Mourinho us back but still feel it will still be the battle of the Manchesters with Chelsea close behind and Arsenal and Tottenham fighting it out for the last Champions League place. Liverpool don't look strong enough and I feel Brendan Rodgers could be out this year if results don't match expectations. So what do you guys say?? Who is winning this one??