obviously it's a shocking move, because it was looking like Ricciardo is 99.9% staying with red bull and the only last condition on the contract is the $$$.

on the other hand, it is understandable about Ricciardo moving to another team.

A while back when red bull announced the new partnership with Honda for the 2019 season, Ricciardo already has raised a question about if Honda can deliver a competitive engine.

Also, it is doubtful if he is getting a good respect from his team-mate.

if he moves to another team, it's better to be a works team instead of a customer-team, and that left Renault the only choice.

At least, he will surely get sorta a 1st driver status at Renault.

Yes. Shocking but understandable. Now we all know why he has been holding out this long. If Renault can build a competitive car and Honda delivers a powerful works engine the. We have a nice competitive 2019. Cyril is smirking at Horner right now.

Reports indicate 20mil per year for Ricci. Good move lol :)

Daniel Ricciardo explains decision to quit Red Bull for Renault | F1 News

Daniel Ricciardo says he is quitting Red Bull at the end of the season because he needs a "fresh start somewhere else".

In a shock move that wrongfooted the F1 paddock as well as Red Bull, Ricciardo has signed a two-year deal with Renault for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.



Speaking about his decision for the first time publicly, Ricciardo said on a video blog: "It was by far the toughest decision I've made in my racing career but in 29 years living on this Earth, it was actually one of the toughest life decisions I've made.

"I felt it was a time now where it was good for me to move on and have a fresh start somewhere else. I think it will be healthy for me - so excited for what lies ahead with Renault."

A change is gonna come. Excited for the next chapter with @RenaultSportF1. Thank you for the kind messages and well wishes I've received. pic.twitter.com/2qpKYYGGvH
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) August 4, 2018

--The deal that nobody saw coming--
Ricciardo had been expected to re-commit to Red Bull after Mercedes re-signed Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for 2019 while Charles Leclerc is the overwhelming favourite to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari if the Finn isn't retained.

"Not every door has closed but it is looking more and more likely that the other [top] teams will remain with their line-ups," Ricciardo said at the British GP. "If it wasn't Red Bull, they [Mercedes and Ferrari] are the two most attractive options. So if they are not possible it's hard for me to be convinced there is a better option than Red Bull."

Although McLaren, who believe they were "pretty close" to signing Ricciardo after offering the 29-year-old a sizeable pay rise, Renault were thought to be no more than an outside option for the Australian.

Ricciardo's own public pronouncements had also strongly indicated he was set to re-sign with Red Bull. Having said at Silverstone "it is obviously looking more and more likely I will remain", Ricciardo told reporters as recently as Wednesday after testing in Hungary: "It will definitely be done by Spa."

The 'it', however, turned out to be something very different.

According to reports, Christian Horner was so surprised by Ricciardo's decision the Red Bull boss initially thought his driver was joking when Ricciardo phoned on Thursday night to inform him he was switching to Renault - Red Bull's long-time engine suppliers but who have been dropped for 2019.

Renault’s Abiteboul may brag about wrong-footing Horner, but essentially Ricciardo just wanted a change, something Horner never really took seriously.. https://t.co/bXJlgpXw8u
— Ted Kravitz (@tedkravitz) August 3, 2018

--Will Ricciardo's gamble prove a good move?--
Sky F1's Martin Brundle has described Ricciardo's switch as a "bold" move and "a bigger risk" than the gamble Lewis Hamilton took in 2012 when he decided to leave McLaren for Mercedes.

But in quotes attributed to him by Renault, Ricciardo said: "I realise there is a lot ahead in order to allow Renault to reach their target of competing at the highest level but I have been impressed by their progression in only two years, and I know each time Renault has been in the sport they eventually won."

--What now for the F1 transfer market?--
Ricciardo's shock decision to quit Red Bull for Renault - where he will partner Nico Hulkenberg in 2019 - will have immediate and unexpected repercussions in the F1 driver market.

If he doesn't return to parent team Red Bull as a replacement for Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz is expected to join McLaren.

If @Carlossainz55 doesn’t get a strong drive in F1 next year it will be a travesty, annoy me intensely, and reflect badly on F1.
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) August 4, 2018

But Riccardo's transfer to Renault scuppers expectations Esteban Ocon was on the cusp of moving to the French team for 2019 from Force India.

And that, in turn, has seemingly put a block on predictions Lance Stroll will leave Williams for Force India at the end of 2018 - although that could still happen if, as suggested, Sergio Perez leaves Force India

I was very shocked to hear this and IMO, I think this is a big mistake. I hope things do work out for him.

Ricci wants a factory team I think based on this - Max Verstappen feels like his Red Bull Formula 1 team has been "two races behind" on engine updates this season because it has not been a manufacturer's main priority.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...engine-updates

Force India saved - https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...es-force-india

stroll to Force India -- now will that put williams on the brink

This just in:
Road & Track: Fernando Alonso Is Quitting F1.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorspo...onso-quits-f1/

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Just saw this. Now the question is, where will he go?? Indy Cars!!

That would be my guess as well. No need to do WEC because already won Le Mans. So really the only choice is to do Indy and see if he can get a championship there with Honda and also more chances to win the Indy 500 and continue to compete in the 24 hrs of Rolex.

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:iagree::iagree:

FA is racer to the core. He will show up to race lots of things. Good for him. Its his nature.

Via SKY F1 --

Kubica to make F1 return in Belgium? Ocon to McLaren?
Now this is interesting.

Sky F1 expert Mark Hughes has beautifully summarised a bonkers driver market in his latest Motorsport Magazine column, and claims the falling dominoes could lead to Robert Kubica returning to F1 with Williams at next weekend's Belgian GP!

"Carlos Sainz's signing for McLaren as Fernando Alonso's replacement for 2019 puts another piece in the driver market jigsaw," he writes. "But we may be about to see some pieces being moved by the very next race at Spa, with Lance Stroll quite possibly switching to Force India and his place being taken at Williamse by Robert Kubica."

Time for an explainer.

Mark reports that Toto Wolff was concerned about Force India's financial woes and so lined up a McLaren seat for Esteban Ocon for the second half of the season with a view to a 2019 drive.

That was then quashed after Ocon agreed a deal with Renault for next season, with Wolff then approaching McLaren about putting Sainz in the car early, but that was then aborted after Daniel Ricciardo surprised everybody, Renault included, by signing for the French team.

Meanwhile, the buyer of Force India was the Lawrence Stroll-led consortium, and Lawrence now has the possibility of moving his son Lance from Williams to the much-more competitive Force India team for the second half of the season. Hence putting Ocon's current drive under threat again!

"If Lance Stroll does make the switch (with appropriate compensation to Williams), then Robert Kubica is in line to stand in at Williams - and we'd finally get to see that little fairy tale come true," Hughes continues.

"All of which still leaves Ocon without a confirmed 2019 drive. May we yet see him in a McLaren, as Wolff originally tried to make happen for Hungary?"

Speculation wrote up by journalist.....

Williams' days are numbered. Financier and Martini leaving them. It'll be a rough road ahead. Someone will need bail them out.

aren't they also on stock exchange market too?

they also have some other business too

Happy Spa race day! One of the best tracks and no rain for today! Qualy was wild lets hope the race is equally fun to watch!

https://www.vipleague.bz/fia-formula...reaming-link-5

LOL, no such luck. Here we go again with one team with clearly a faster car than the rest. Oh well such is F1 racing...

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Ferrari now have a complete package. Mercedes are now lost to respond. They stay too long with the long wheel base. Motor wise Ferrari have .2 on them easily it seems.

There is no reason for Ferrari to lose races other than by their own doing. They have the fastest car and two top three drivers. It should be game set and match!

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Seb...not a good day a the Milan Pre F1 race festival for this weekend's Italian GP -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=1O8-VPiDo0s

Now that is funny!:wtf2:

Looks like whoever laid out that course doesn't realize what a crappy turning radius an F1 car has. At least they are putting on a show in Milan. I stayed in Milan a few year ago when I went to the Grand Prix and you would never know a race was even going on. No posters, no souvenirs, nothing. Only time you saw any fans was on the train to Monza.

Ok, glad to see Kimi get the POLE!!!! Would like to see him win one more before he hangs it up. Just know that after the first turn and team orders come into play, he will have to let Vette go by. Anyway hoping for a good race. :tup:

I hope Kimi disregards team orders. Especially if he doesn't think he'll be signed for next year.

I hope he can get away well at the chicane..

but seeing that bitter-vettel after the qualify... can imagine he won't give raikkonen a easy time at the start... :ugh2:

however, even if raikkonen can get away at the start... I'm pretty sure ferrari will try to do anything that doesn't look like a team order to swap the position... :shakes head:

+1 its so close with Lewis Ferrari cannot afford to let points go away from Vettel. If possible an 'engineering' of a swap has to be planned already.

http://cricbox.co/sky-sports-F1

sometimes I am really puzzled how come ferrari have to pit raikkonen so early...

it didn't look like he was losing time to hamilton at the end of his first stint, the gap was consistently around 0.8-1.0s.

there's no significant blister(s) on his tires, he didn't complain about lost of traction.

and he was extending the gap on verstappen.

but ferrari bought him in... just because they saw mercedes send out the crews??

For the pace that raikkonen was having during the first stint, he can stay out for at least another 3-5 laps, or even 8 laps like what hamilton did.

at least he can have some fresh tires to compete with hamilton.

also, why ferrari would ask him to push when behind bottas?

they should know he can't pass bottas, and to push like that will just kill the tires, which it did.

raikoonen could have just stay behind bottas, thus also able to nurse the tires, wait til bottas pit-in then compete with hamilton again.

I will say it again the only reason for Ferrari not win is because of their own doing. They got totally out gamed by Mercedes and Hamilton and Bottas executed their strategy perfectly.

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:iagree: For next year, instead of maybe letting Kimi go, they should think of replacing some of the teams engineers. :tup:

Yes, the race strategist.

They just simply don't know when and who should pit or stay-out.

they have the pace today and raikkonen drove an great race...

but the strategy ruined him...


also a big laugh at them regarding the soft tires, they only brought one set to the race for each driver...

so without performing any test on it during the FPs which mean they have zero data on its performance and durability, they put it on during the race and expect it will last 30+ laps.....

it just sounds like a joke.... a big joke.....

Vettel is sorely over rated. Pressure bends him badly. Fastest car, most costly mistakes and LH is utter consistency. If Ferrari and Vettel lose this title due to Vettel's mistakes he needs to go. They have given him the tools and enough rope LOL :)

ferrari just simply put too much on vettel.

i understand vettel might have a better chance to win the DC from day one.

BUT, they can't ignore there's the other driver need to be taken care of.

they just give raikkonen a car, set it up, then say, "alright, now you're on your own..."

so far, since I can't remember when, I've never seen a workable or sensible race plan for the 2nd driver.

when both drivers are running, vettel gets the better strategy and raikkonen gets nothing.

when vettel is out of contention... raikkonen... will still get nothing...


drivers wise.. i think ricciardo will have a better chance to win the DC than vettel if you put him in the ferrari.

Ferrari must have forgot the lessons learned when Michael was their driver. Never pit first. He would always wait for Hakkinen to pit, throw in some fast laps, and when he did pit he would almost always come out ahead of Mika. I agree, the strategists lost Kimi that race. And I also agree that Vettel is not good under pressure.

During the Schumacher years, they have the best personnel combination: Jean Todt, Ross Brawn was considered the best strayegist on the paddock, and they have the best driver.


True that at that time they always wait for Hakkinnen to pit first then they'll pit..

this move actually earn him the 2000 DC from Hakkinnen at Suzuka.


You know.. I was heart broken cos I'm a big fan of Hakkinnen and McLaren... lol

I'm a big Ferrari fan and I have to admit, I have lost hope in Ferrari this year. I can't take all of their stupid strategic mistakes and Vettel is getting on my nerves. He just does not have what it takes to win. He keeps making stupid mistakes and it's getting old real fast. I truly believe Ferrari need to drop him and perform a huge team cleanup if they hope to come back and win in 2019.

I was a Hakkinnen fan too. I hated that era. All the passing was done in the pits. If they ever bring back refueling, I'm done with F1.

Martin Brundle: Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes show no mercy to Ferrari | F1 News

Nice summary here.

Well, it's official. Kimi is off to Sauber for 2019. I've got nothing!! :shakes head: