Ricciardo better than Verstappen - Villeneuve
- Published on 01 Jun 2018 09:25
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- By: Jeroen Jonkers
Daniel Ricciardo is a better driver than his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen.
That is the claim of Jacques Villeneuve, the always outspoken 1997 world champion.
Verstappen, 20, is having an error-strewn 2018 season, but while boss Christian Horner says he needs to "reset", he backed the young Dutchman to eventually bounce back.
Villeneuve is less sure.
"Verstappen makes mistakes in every race. It happens all the time," the Canadian told Sky Italia.
"It's a bad sign. For example, Ricciardo was not at all to blame for their crash in Baku. He did nothing wrong.
"If a driver is constantly making mistakes, he must calm down and slow down. But to be at Ricciardo's level, he has to take more risks. It can only mean one thing: Max is not as good as Daniel. Full stop," Villeneuve said.
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Replies (18)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Bla bla bla, take a hike Villeneuve. A long, long hike, far away from anything that can hear you splutter out your nonsense.
Yet Im sitting here, half agreeing with him. There is no doubt that Ricciardo is a more well rounded driver; he is fast, consistent and is generally able to make some fantastic overtakes and defenses against overtakes without incident. Verstappen is very fast, but speed doesnt matter if you lack consistency, and currently thats a trait he lack. His style rely alot on run offs being available at a track, and far from all tracks have that. But he hasnt done mistakes at every venue he has ever been at, thats pure undilluted bullshit. But he has been incident prone this year, and its sorta beyond me why this is. He is champion material, that seems to be clear, but if he doesnt adress his impatience and his current Maldonado-incarnation, it will cost him the chance of a title.
About Baku... I think both were responsible, but Im leaning more to the fault being Max'. I dont really like Verstappen's weaving defense. There are drivers that can defend without risking an incident, especially with their team mate, and Ricciardo had been faster for most of the race. Major props to Red Bull for not issuing team orders though, even if it ultimately would've been for their own good. It was such an unnecessary incident.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Villeneuve it's just a guy we love to hate. But like you I half agree with him. Not on average, but at the present time. Something is very wrong with Max this year, he's been mostly a disaster. I also think he is at least 75% responsible for the Baku crash. That being said, I think he'll recover and have a brilliant career. I wouldn't be surprised to see him winning races this year. But the status quo is what it is. He's on dreadful form.
dr002
Posts: 141
@Calle.itw, I think your point about Verstappen's style relying on run offs is a good one and well founded, but in terms of Red Bull not issuing team orders, the way I've seen it is that if Ricciardo is faster on the day they'll allow him to race Verstappen, but all things being even, or if Verstappen has the better setup on the day, Red Bull will do what it can to favour Verstappen, at any point throughout the race, as was the case in Azerbaijan....... I think it will be interesting to see the result of close sequential placings between Verstappen and Ricciardo in the future.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I'd be very disappointed if this doesnt change. I wonder if the Red Bull somehow doesnt fit his style of driving...
@DR002 Im not necessarily sure if they favour Verstappen all that much more than Ricciardo, but regardless they dont tend to use team orders the same way as e.g Ferrari or Mercedes do, and thats definitely a trait I like in Red Bull.
reg
Posts: 162
I think Villeneuve has hit the nail on the head (for once anyway), Even "Hunt the Shunt" never has prangs at the rate Max is.
So Max clearly needs a new nick-name suggestion please!
How about
"Max the AX"
" Vestappen makes crashes happen"
Mr.Flip
Posts: 2
Where was Mr. Villeneuve when Max won the race in Mexico and leaded the pack brilliantly? This guy is watching from behind the corner and just pops up when a young driver fails, like saying: "Look how good I am, the biggest criticaster of the F1. I have the gusts to axe young drivers." He is already forgotten that every young driver makes mistakes, it's part of the learning process. He went through it.
I remember a GT-race in Baku where an older Jacques Villeneuve raced with Jos Verstappen. Verstappen did not ever drive the BMW Z4 GT3, because this Canadian totally wrecked the car in the first free practice. Well, that is F1-world champion worthy!!!
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
We all know Villeneuve is a bit of a 'town idiot' but he does have a point in this case. Even the Max fans need to recognize that something is really wrong with Max right now. Nothing he can't or won't be able to overcome, but he's been reminiscent of Maldonado. It also doesn't help that Ricciardo has been brilliant overall.
F1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
This guy has some mental issues. They showed him the door at BMW and replaced him with a rookie, who performed 10x better. Since then he is on a mission against young drivers.
What a downfall... Once a F1 driver, now just a pathetic troll.
Major Tom
Posts: 152
I think this is a first. Something Villeneure says that heartily agree with.
Norbert
Posts: 108
I’m good with Mad Max. He tries so hard. He is so full of beans. I would be afraid of putting more pressure on him because I think he puts a lot on himself. If it were up to me, I would see him given more attention, soothing direction and guidance, even over the radio. Say what needs to be said, but lay off so he doesn’t snap. In 5, 6, 7 years I fully expect he will be the champion.
Ricciardo is awesome, so there was nothing too weird in what Villeneuve said. Not everyone wants to be a syrupy fence sitter. It’s one of the joys of being independently wealthy. But yeah, he might be a little envious of Max. He was a 10x better rookie than those guys out there but he couldn’t sustain it.
wmponfire
Posts: 6
#JacqAttack once again
brilliantmax_fan
Posts: 1
It’s time for Mad Ville to go home and do his home work! Yes, Max is not on a brilliant track record. But it is also ooohhh to easy to break down somebody. It is typically these sort of idiots that just blow with the wind. Am sure that Ville and Rosi (Rosberg who did not even have the guts to defend his title) agree with each other. But will switch their perspective as soon as Max wins a few times!
Let’s face it...both Ricciardo and Max are brilliant drivers. Ricciardo has had time to ripe and is 8 years older. Max needs time to mature and learn quicly from his mistakes (but he is alao more in the spotlught than any other driver as he is at a top team).
And btw don’t forget the stupid actions of K-mag and Grossjean...am even surprised they are allowed to drive a car! Hartley is awefully underperforming (unfortunately), Alonso isn’t brilliant either (also unfortunately) and let us mot even discuss Williams (can’t be all the car’s fault...maybe only right statement from Mad Ville).
I urge all of us to be patient, stop
Keyboard warrior behavior and just enjoy the sport. This is tge best way to support youngsters as Max, Gasly etc
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Thats all very well. However, and here is my shrimp: Max has been in f1 for a decent while now. He is no noob, and to imply otherwise is to insult his abilities. He has been in f1 long enough so that he can be critizised as much as any other driver. Whats been going on is normal for the first yesr or two, its weird to see a good driver doing this poorly. This isnt keyboard warfare. This is people criticizing and showing concern about a driver they msy or may not like. Thats not a bad thing.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
I can't wait for next race ....
f1ski
Posts: 726
The brilliance of Ricciardo is his ability to adapt to the car . This was most evident when Vettel struggled his last year. Max is just pressing too much. He tries to pass the top cars like he passes back markers. No one is surprised by his moves any longer and that makes it harder for him as well.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Anyone with half of their working brain could say it now. Where were you in 2017 Einstein?
Rindtchamp
Posts: 304
I hate to agree with Villeneuve but he's right. Can Max turn it around? He's crashed at every single race this year, can he have a clean weekend at Canada? we'll see.
but right now if RBR was a title contending car, my money for WDC would be on Ricciardo. "To finish first, first you must finish"
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Guess he did turn it around. Consistently out qualify his team mate and winning Austria GP. This year seems to turning into one of the classic ones. If only Redbull could have a bit more power...