F1: Is Daniel Ricciardo ready to tame the bull?

Daniel Ricciardo smiles after practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on August 23, 2013 in Spa, Belgium. (Getty Images)

Yesterday, live on a German television show, Infiniti Red Bull Racing announced that Mark Webber would be replaced next year by another Australian, but a much younger one, in the form of Toro Rosso driver and long-time Red Bull youngster Daniel Ricciardo.

Although there have been rumours over the past few months about whether a more experienced driver, such as Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen would be partnering Vettel at Red Bull next season, the obvious choice for Red Bull was to look to their young driver programme and their sister team for a driver, and out of the two there, Ricciardo was always going to be chosen.

But is Ricciardo ready for the extra pressure and expectations that are required at a team like Red Bull? Is he ready to go up against Sebastian Vettel, and can he tame a car like the RB10?

When Sergio Perez was announced as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at McLaren, I thought (and to a certain extent still do) that McLaren was too big and too complicated for someone, who only has experience of a middling Sauber.

How could a kid that only has one or two good drives under his belt be chosen for a coveted seat a team such as McLaren over other, more experienced and celebrated drivers? Then I realised, how is Formula One going to continue without new, fresh talent? Perez no doubt has talent, and McLaren threw him a bone, to see what he can do.

Admittedly, 2013 hasn’t been the best season for the Woking team, and as such we haven’t seen the best out of the Mexican, but who knows, he could be a world champion in the future, because he’s certainly in a good enough team.

The same can be said for the likes of Fernando Alonso, and particularly Raikkonen. Alonso started F1 life in a Minardi in 2001, and came 23rd in the championship that season with eight retirements to his name.

Next season he was driving for Renault as a test driver, and then signed on as a driver the year after and began picking up podiums and the occasional win. Then he won both the ’05 and ’06 championships, breaking the Michael Schumacher stronghold.

Raikkonen’s F1 career started much the same. He started F1 after being trusted by Sauber after having barely enough experience, and performed well. In only his second season in the sport (even less time than Perez), McLaren came calling, and he spent five years there, only missing out on two world championships through reliability issues.

Much can be said for Ricciardo. He impressed in his early years by winning well in the lower formulas and was taken into the Red Bull young driver programme. For half of the 2011 season, he was a test driver for Toro Rosso and for the second, he was a main driver for the struggling HRT team, who accepted him with good grace, as well as the much-needed money they received from Red Bull, telling them to give Ricciardo first team experience.

Understandably in such a bad car, his performances weren’t exemplary, but he did well to finish all but two of his races there. After that, he was taken on by Toro Rosso and is nearing the end of his second season there. Again, his performances haven’t been outstanding, but he has taken a few good places and his driving is remarked to be impressive.

I think I will learn from my judgments. I criticised McLaren and Perez when they started their partnership, stating ruthlessly that Perez was not talented enough and not good enough to cope with the extra pressures. He seems to be coping well enough there (barring a few incidents with his team-mate) and I’m sure will be right up there when the car is under him.

I’m afraid that I’m a stick-in-the-mud. I love the ‘old guard’ in the form of Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Alonso and Webber. If it were up to me, they would get the good drives even now, when they are all getting old and soon to retire.

I say give Ricciardo a chance at Red Bull, and I’m sure he’ll do well. Top teams taking a punt on young drivers is healthy for the sport, and if you think about it, then if teams didn’t do that, we would not be cheering on the likes of Vettel, Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton, Perez or Ricciardo.