F1: Can Daniel Ricciardo break Australia's drivers' championship drought in 2017?
Updated
Daniel Ricciardo has been bridesmaid to the two dominant Mercedes cars twice in the past three years.
But, with big rules changes sweeping Formula One in 2017, is this the year Danny Ric can go from best of the rest to best of the best?
Formula One is a sport of man, machine and team. All three have to be at their peak to have a shot at the world championship. So does Ricciardo tick the boxes this year?
Dan the man
Does Ricciardo have what it takes to be a world champion driver?
"There's no doubt about that," says Australia's most recent F1 world champion, Alan Jones — who won the title way back in 1980.
It's a sentiment shared by a more recent world champion — still in the F1 field — in Fernando Alonso.
The Spanish double world champion rates Ricciardo as the best driver currently in F1 — other than himself, of course.
"On the track you cannot see any mistakes when you are together with him," he told the BBC.
"In the overtaking manoeuvres, probably he is the best out there."
Jones said Ricciardo has worked harder on his fitness this summer than ever before, and will be at the front end of the field physically — so important in races as long as two hours at ultra-high G-forces.
The expert verdict: Ricciardo definitely has the driving skills, fitness and temperament to be world champion.
Red Bull — a beast of a team
There is also no disputing Red Bull, in a short space of time, has risen to the top echelon of F1 teams, alongside the likes of Williams, Maclaren and Mercedes (it is impossible to put any team at the level of the venerable Ferrari for both success and longevity).
Every constructors' championship so far this decade has gone to either the Austrian team or its fierce German rival Mercedes.
Red Bull is also the joint holder of F1's fastest pit stop, at a touch over 1.9 seconds.
The team based at Milton Keynes in England has plenty of financial resources and a man on their books generally acknowledged as the best aerodynamicist in motorsport in Adrian Newey.
Newey's cars have won a record 10 F1 constructors' titles spread over three different teams, so will 2017 provide an 11th?
The RB13: Mean machine or just a drag?
The Red Bull was arguably the best car on the grid last season, but with the second worst engine.
Its Tag Heuer-branded Renault power plant started the season almost 50 horsepower down on the field-leading Mercedes engine — roughly five per cent less grunt, which is a big deal in a sport where the difference between best and the rest is measured in tenths of a second.
It is no surprise then that the only race weekend Ricciardo's Red Bull dominated — but, ironically, didn't win — was Monaco, a tight street circuit with no long, high-speed straights.
"I believe that if Daniel would've had a better power plant behind him last year or the year before, he could very easily have won the world championship then," Jones said.
The Renault did get better in the second half of the season, possibly halving the gap to Mercedes, and it has been totally redesigned this year.
We do not yet know how effective that redesign has been, as teams rarely run their engines at full capacity during preseason testing.
The good news for Ricciardo is the big aerodynamic rule changes may bring Adrian Newey's genius to the fore, outweighing any continuing engine deficit.
The bad news is the new rules, with wider wings and tyres, mean more drag. More drag means you need more horsepower or you will be even slower down the straights.
Ricciardo was cagey, not confident, when asked by Sky Sports if Renault has delivered.
"I would say we're not the quickest as we stand here today," he said on the last day of testing in Barcelona.
"Can we be the quickest? I think we can. Will it be by Melbourne? To be seen ... probably not by Melbourne, but let's see."
When asked if it was the Renault engine holding Red Bull back, Ricciardo hinted there were also a few tweaks needed to the chassis and aero.
"We could be a bit better in both ... I feel like it's there ... we just have to understand it [the car] a bit better."
Nothing stands still in Formula One
Of course the challenge for Red Bull and Ricciardo is everyone else — except Maclaren-Honda it seems — has also become faster.
While last year's Ferrari never lived up to its promise in testing, Alan Jones thinks this year's looks the real deal.
Ricciardo's F1 season finishes:
- 2011, HRT: 27th (11 races)
- 2012, Toro Rosso: 18th (20 races)
- 2013, Toro Rosso: 14th (19 races)
- 2014, Red Bull: 3rd (19 races)
- 2015, Red Bull: 8th (19 races)
- 2016, Red Bull: 3rd (21 races)
"Ferrari have shown their hand a little bit, they've shown a really good turn of speed in Barcelona, Mercs are obviously going to be up there," Jones says.
Former F1 racer and now Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle thinks the Mercedes still look to have an early-season edge, but said Ferrari and Red Bull appear to be "in touch" and there might be some close racing at the front.
While F1 always throws up early-season surprises, no-one expects the Red Bull to have suddenly leapfrogged the Mercedes into runaway dominance. So if Dan is going to win, he is going to have to scrap for it.
Verstappen the first man Ricciardo needs to beat
Not least with his team-mate, 19-year-old Max Verstappen.
The prodigy holds records as the youngest F1 driver and youngest race winner. He would love to add youngest world champion to that list, knocking off Sebastian Vettel who won his first title with Red Bull aged 23.
Despite his tender years, Max will be a big challenge for Daniel to overcome if the Red Bull is the quickest car out there.
"The first person you've got to beat in Formula One is your teammate," Alan Jones says.
"There's no doubt about it — Verstappen is bloody quick."
But the veteran driver and Network Ten commentator said Ricciardo still had the upper hand, at least for this season.
"I think he's got as much speed, but he's got a little bit more experience," Jones said of the 27-year-old Australian, about to kick-off his seventh season in F1.
While the two raced cleanly alongside each other last season, former Red Bull driver Mark Webber believes things will heat up this year if they are both right at the front.
If there is anyone who knows all about dealing with a young upstart teammate, it's Webber.
"Their relationship in the garage looks as strong as any in pit lane, but as we've seen in the past, teammates get on until there's consistent victories at stake and that's when the tension starts to rise," Webber wrote in The Herald Sun.
"If there's only thirds and seconds on the table, it will be harmonious. After that it gets quite tricky."
The verdict
As a devoted F1 fan with a strong patriotic streak when it comes to sport, I wish I could say 2017 will be Daniel Ricciardo's year.
But it doesn't look like the RB13 will enjoy the kind of dominance that saw Vettel and Webber fight it out for the title in 2010 and the German dominate the subsequent three seasons.
It looks like the best Aussie motorsport devotees can hope for is that the Red Bull is on pace with Mercedes and Ferrari and that Ricciardo's combination of speed, experience and calmness will see him edge out some tough rivals.
But, as Jones said: "I think we really are going to have to wait for Albert Park to find out for sure."
At least we don't have to wait long.
The Australian Grand Prix begins this weekend with practice starting on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and race day on Sunday to kick off the new F1 season.
Topics: formula-1, motor-sports, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
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