Big Money Or Championship Wins?

[Angel]

I just read that Daniel Ricciardo is 'very' close to signing to stay at Red Bull. Well of course he is, neither Ferrari or Mercedes are interested in signing him and he's got no chance of a better drive anywhere else. He's lucky Red Bull haven't removed the offer and filled the seat already whilst he dithered, it wouldn't be the first time they'd done that.

 

[Il_leone]

He has not got a choice and the only thing he was worried about was whether Honda can do a better job than Renault

 

[Angel]

So Daniel Ricciardo has gone for neither the money nor the championship, he's signed to race with Renault!!! I didn't see that one coming. So I assume Gasly will get the nod to move up to Red Bull from Toro Rosso now.

 

[Izumi]

What about Sainz?

 

[Il_leone]

I did not see it coming but Ricciardo has analysed the long term potential of Renault and decided to go with him which is a bold move seeing he's got two years where the team will go forward now without listen to the rubbish coming from Red Bull

Also a key factor is Renault are the only team who have committed themselves to beyond 2021 when the new regulations are agreed so he wants to give himself many opportunities and have his future guaranteed

 

[RasputinLives]

Ya see I see all the logic in the move and support it but can't help having a nagging doubt that Kubica, Kimi and Hulkenberg have all moved to Enstone for the exact same reason and it never paid off.

 

[Il_leone]

To be fair

Kubica - well he was forced into the situation by BMW and he showed his abilities but we will never know his true potential because of his horrible accident . Sources say that Ferrari had a contract for 2012 on offer

Kimi - he did well when he first came back from 2 year absence with a level of consistency I did not expect but I wonder if he was motivated by money because the deal apparently was $50,000 for every point he scored .

When he sighted he has not been paid a penny his anger should have been with the management not at his mechanics to be fair. To be honest he has every right to angry with the owners who never really had intention of honouring the contract and someone obviously stupidly did not work out that if Kimi had done well it would have cost the team at least $10m a year in salary

His misfortune was all the various problems Genii capital were mismanaging Team Enstone and it impacted his motivation and he left under a cloud

Ferrari havent done anything for his career other than prove he should have stayed retired

Hulkenberg

- Two years at Enstone reminds me of his time at Sauber where if you give him the chance to show he can be No 1 in the team he usually will take it , he thrashed Palmer and has so far outperformed Sainz who last year was highly rated.

I believe he made the right choice because all the top teams kept ignoring him whether its down to money or politics he seems to the victim

So far Renault have started the works team very late and are still catching up but next season will be his chance to show he can mix it with the big boys now that Renault do not have to worry about Red Bull