Right from the season outset Daniel Ricciardo has shown he’s neither intimdated nor inferior to Red Bull Racing’s golden child Sebastian Vettel. The young Aussie is comfortably ahead of the four-time world champion in the 2014 standings and has more often than not been the best of the drivers left in the wake of the runaway Mercedes AMG drivers.
Neither of the Red Bull drivers had a weekend to remember in Austria, but Ricciardo collected some consolation points, while Vettel suffered yet another retirement. Is Vettel’s poor run simply down to bad luck, or is it something more?
Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion who now works in the media, says something more sinister is at play.
“He’s a four-time World Champion who has earned the titles won, but now Red Bull Racing is treating him like they were to Mark Webber,” Villeneuve said in an interview with OmniCorse.it [translated].
Villeneuve goes on to suggest that the season is all but over for Vettel, as far as Red Bull is concerned.
“They seem to have decided to focus only on Daniel Ricciardo,” he added. “Now they want to ‘kill’ Sebastian because the German is not able to give another image of Red Bull. Of course, he cannot stand one more season.
“Helmut Marko has now also started to criticise him. When you lose control of the team and the policy begins to have an ever-increasing weight, you’re finished.”
Yet, Villeneuve’s most emphatic statement was yet to come. The former F1 champ says Vettel must leave Red Bull Racing.
“Vettel is finished there, he needs to change team.”
According to Villeneuve Ferrari would be Vettel’s most likely destination, claiming Alonso will be tired of carrying the team on his own, while Raikkonen lacks the finesse to drive a modern F1 car.
These comments from Villeneuve, made early last week, may well be chasing headlines, but what a headline!
[Source: RichlandF1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
2 replies on “Is Ricciardo being favoured over Vettel?”
J. Villeneuve is a tool and anything he says is usually outlandish and ridiculous. While it is true that Seb is having more issues than Ric this season, no one is suggesting that RBR at treating either driver differently.
I think there is some truth in that, especially the bit about the fit with marketing the red bull product. Vettel was good PR when he was winning, but not so much now. If you were the in the marketing department at red bull who would you rather have selling the product? Young, smiling, enthusiastic and friendly Ricciardo or grumpy Vettel?