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| 2014 Daniel Ricciardo |
The
impression created is of a virtual rookie dethroning a four-time World
Champion. Incredible, especially when one considers that Vettel utterly dominated
the 2011 and 2013 seasons and scored the most points in 2010 and 2012. His
first win was in 2008 and his last came at the end of an exceptional nine
consecutive wins at the end of the 2013 season. Vettel had won 39 races, almost
as many as Mansell.
Ricciardo
by comparison was a relative unknown. He started in F1 halfway through the 2011
season with the backmarker Hispania-Cosworth team, moved closer to midgrid with
Toro Rosso-Ferrari for 2012-2013. Ricciardo’s best placings were 18th
in 2011, two 9ths in 2012 and two 7ths in 2013. Measured against his
team-mates:
2011: Ricciardo ahead in races (when both
finished) 4 times to Liuzzi’s 1.
2012: Ricciardo ahead in races (when both finished)
8 times to Vergne’s 7.
2013: Ricciardo and Vergne were equal, each being 5
times ahead in races (when both finished).
Going
by these simple stats, it did not seem as if Ricciardo was anything special. Of
course the Red Bull-Toro Rosso experts knew more and promoted him to the Red
Bull-Renault Team for 2014.
Vettel
had been with Toro Rosso since 2007, scored his first win in 2008 and was
promoted to the Red Bull-Renault team for 2009. Vettel had looked special from
the start in 2007 when he beat the experienced Liuzzi and then drove
impressively in a one-off race for BMW, showing well against his fast,
experienced team-mate Nick Heidfeld.
Many
questioned Vettel’s ability when he defeated his Red Bull-Renault veteran team-mate
Webber in 2009 and 2010. However for 2011, 2012 and 2013 he was clearly faster
by some margin. Webber was no slouch, proven by his several superb wins,
particularly at Monaco and Silverstone. Vettel managed all aspects of his Red Bull-Renault
cars superbly, his speed and talent being highlighted by his many late
qualifying laps for pole (46 poles in 7 seasons), as well as by his cheeky
fastest laps (22 in 6 seasons) set at the end of almost every race, his eye on
the record books! This despite his stressed race engineer Rocky urging him to
slow down and make sure the car finished!
How
then could newboy Ricciardo in 2014 be the faster racer for 8 of the 14 races
to date, while Vettel finished ahead only twice?
Experts
attribute Vettel’s falling from top-rate form to his being uneasy with the lack
of rear downforce exiting corners. This was due to new technical regulations
which reduced the aerodynamic use of rear bodywork diffusers. Another part of
the reason is that Ricciardo has obviously taken a step up, and is at home in
the car as well as displaying sound racing maturity. According to Toro Rosso
team principal, the astute and experienced Franz Tost, Vettel managed a big
step up in performance for 2011. This I noticed by my driver-rating against his
then team-mate Webber, compared with 2010.
This
exceptional phenomenon of a new, younger driver Ricciardo, upstaging a talented
old hand like Vettel: has it happened before? A look back through Grand Prix
history is always informative for placing things in context.
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| 2008 Lewis Hamilton |
For the
2007 season it was an actual F1 rookie, Hamilton who equalled his twice World
Champion team-mate Alonso at McLaren-Mercedes. Alonso had been racing since
2001 and was into his 6th season when he joined McLaren-Mercedes for
2007. He had won back-to-back titles with Renault in 2005-6 and in 2006 had tellingly
gone head-to-head with Michael Schumacher in virtually equal cars, Renault and
Ferrari respectively. Alonso scored 6 poles to Schumacher’s 4 and won the races
narrowly with 7 wins to 6. There was no doubting Alonso’s ability.
Yet
from the first race for McLaren-Mercedes in 2007, the 22-year-old rookie Hamilton
performed close to the 26-year-old double Champion Alonso. Alonso was ahead 9:6
in the races when both finished, but Hamilton scored 6 poles to Alonso’s 2,
each won 4 races. A phenomenal performance for a rookie.
Contemporary
Formula One commentators hailed this as the greatest rookie feat of all time.
Grand
Prix racing however went back a long way before the inauguration of the Formula
One Championship in 1950. It can be said to have started in 1894, and included
over 300 top-class races until 1949. Having measured and compared each of the
2000-plus competitors from 1894-2013 on a consistent basis in my Rating System,
some interesting phenomena were revealed.
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| 1934 Guy Moll |
The
closest pattern of similarities to the Ricciardo-Vettel situation of 2014
occurred 80 years ago in 1934. The Alfa Romeo team had dominated since 1932,
with top drivers Nuvolari and Caracciola in 1932 and Nuvolari and Chiron in
1933. For 1934 Nuvolari had left, and the team were led by Varzi and Chiron,
who could be said to have been the equivalent of Alonso and Schumacher in 2006
or Alonso and Hamilton in 2014. Varzi was 24 in 1934, an ex-motorcycle racer
who Enzo Ferrari reckoned ‘was Nuvolari’s equal from 1930 to 1934’. Chiron was
33 and as fast as both Varzi and Nuvolari.
Young
Algerian Guy Moll started Grand Prix racing in 1932 and showed enough promise
to be invited to join the strong Alfa Romeo team for 1934 at age 25.
Just as
Ricciardo was to do in 2014, Moll was instantly fast, running second behind
Chiron at Monaco until Chiron slid into the barrier at the Station Hairpin on
the 98th lap of 100, allowing Moll past to win. At the high-speed
Tripoli race Moll almost passed winner Varzi on the last lap, just failing by
0.2- second at the flag. The next race was at the even faster banked autobahn
circuit AVUS, outside Berlin. Varzi and Chiron had the standard, open-wheel-bodied
Alfa Romeo 8C2900Bs, while Moll was given one with an aerodynamically-shaped
body that was 20 kmh/12 mph faster on the straights. After the faster
Auto-Union had retired by lap 10 of 15, Moll took over at the front and beat Varzi
by 1m 27s, although not a straight comparison due to Moll’s faster car. This
dangerous circuit took some skill where the race average was 206 kmh/128 mph
compared with Tripoli’s 186 kmh/115 mph race speed. Next came the Marne GP at
Reims, where all drove the standard bodied Alfa Romeos, but Moll was beaten by
Chiron into second place by a lap. Initially Varzi and Chiron had battled each
other furiously for the lead for 41 of the 64 laps until Varzi’s gearbox gave
trouble. The next meeting of the Alfa Romeo drivers was at the slow, tortuous Ciano
Cup circuit in Livorno. Here Varzi won by 9-seconds from Moll, Chiron not being
present.
Tragically
the next event at Pescara for the Coppa Acerbo, was to be Moll’s last.
Outclassed by the Auto-Union and Mercedes-Benz teams, especially on the 10km/6
mile straight along the Adriatic coast, the Alfa Romeos chased hard, Moll then
Chiron running behind the three or four German cars for 5 of the 20 laps.
Chiron then went up to third place but his car caught fire during a pitstop.
When the German cars pitted, Moll took the lead for laps 10 and 11. Then Varzi
took over at the front for laps 12 and 13 until his gearbox failed, allowing
the Fagioli/Mercedes-Benz to lead, but chased by Moll in second place from lap
14 onwards. On lap 18 Moll’s car veered off the long, straight at about 260
kmh/160 mph and somersaulted, the driver being killed instantly.
Moll had
shown such promise, that Enzo Ferrari likened him to Stirling Moss for his
speed and racing presence of mind. His challenging of experienced team-mates
Varzi and Chiron was similar to Ricciardo’s of Vettel, in that neither was
arookie, Moll being into his third season, Ricciardo his fourth. Doubtless had
Moll lived, he’d have been even more competitive in 1935, his fourth season.
There
are several more examples of new drivers challenging and even beating
established and more experienced team-mates.
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| 1936 Bernd Rosemeyer |
In 1935
now-veteran Varzi, ‘Nuvolari’s equal’ according to then team-manager Enzo
Ferrari, was into his eighth season, but was in for another challenge from a
young driver when he left Alfa Romeo for Auto-Union. Varzi’s brilliance was
displayed in his first race in the rear-engined V16 Auto-Union at the high speed
Tripoli circuit when he finished a fine second to Caracciola’s Mercedes-Benz,
the fastest package of 1935.
For the
AVUS race in May Auto-Union veterans Varzi aged 31 and Stuck aged 36 were
joined by 26-year-old ex-motorcyclist and Grand Prix rookie Bernd Rosemeyer.
This circuit was the fastest of all, being formed by two 10 kilometre/6-mile lanes
of a new autobahn, joined by a very steeply-banked turn at one end. Rookie
Rosemeyer did well in his heat to qualify behind Stuck who averaged 260kmh/160
mph for pole. On lap 4 of 5 Rosemeyer’s car burst a rear tyre on the banking,
but he brought it safely to a stop, which amazed Mercedes-Benz team manager
Neubauer.
At the
Eifel GP on the Nurburgring Rosemeyer displayed his exceptional talent by
leading the race in the rain for the last few laps, only losing narrowly to ‘Rainmaster’
Caracciola’s Mercedes-Benz. In the next three races, the French and German GPs
and the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara, Varzi and Stuck were faster than Rosemeyer,
who managed a fine second place at Pescara. In the next, the Swiss GP,
Rosemeyer finished third, Varzi fourth behind two Mercedes-Benz’s. At Monza
Stuck won, Rosemeyer’ s car failed but he took team-mate Pietsch’s car and
finished third behind the shared Dreyfus-Nuvolari Alfa Romeo. At the Spanish GP
all three Auto-Unions gave trouble, but Rosemeyer did best, struggling in fifth
after several pitstops. The season finale at Brno’s Masaryykring, in the
absence of the Mercedes-Benz team, saw first Stuck then Varzi lead laps 1-5 and
5-12 of 17 until both cars gave trouble, allowing Rosemeyer past to win.
For a
rookie to mix it with such tough, experienced drivers as Varzi and Stuck in the
rear-engined V16 Auto-Union team was quite something. Not surprisingly
Rosemeyer went on to become the fastest driver by 1937.
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| 1908 Ralph de Palma |
Another
great driver to be challenged by a rookie was the smooth, refined and fast
Italian Felice Nazzaro, who had been driving for Fiat since 1905. He dominated
the 1907 season. Yet at the American Grand Prize of 1908, rookie Ralph de Palma
led from the start and set the race’s fastest lap, until after a pitstop to
change tyres, the spare tyre cradle dragged on the road, dropping de Palma
back. Team-mates Wagner and Nazzaro finished 1st and 3rd.
Again invited to join the Fiat team for the 1910 American GP alongside Nazzaro
and Wagner, de Palma joined in the close, lead-swopping fight between the Fiat
and Benz teams. He was leading narrowly going into the last lap when his Fiat cracked
a cylinder, allowing six cars past.
De
Palma’s talent was obvious, to match and even upstage Nazzaro and Wagner
clearly pointed to an exceptional talent. He continued to be a leading grand
prix driver until 1921.
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| 1912 David Bruce-Brown |
In the
1910 American Grand Prize 20 year-old rookie David Bruce-Brown joined the Benz
team as team-mate to Hemery, the tough, 35-year-old ex-sailor who had debuted
in 1905, and American Willie Haupt. In a close battle with the three Fiats, Hemery
led laps 1-7 of 20, Haupt laps 9-13 while rookie Bruce-brown took the lead in
the last quarter of the last lap to win by just 1.4-seconds after 5-hours and
53-minutes. The best rookie debut of all time?
For
1911 and 1912 Bruce-Brown joined the top-rated Fiat team, with team-mates
Wagner, Bragg and de Palma. In the 1911 American GP Bruce-Brown won again,
after Wagner and Brag had suffered car trouble. In the epic 1912 French GP,
when the small, high-revving 7.6-litre/464 ci Peugeot toppled the big,
14.1-litre/860ci Fiat cars, Bruce Brown led from the start until a fuel line
leaked and he ran out at lap 14.5 of 20, allowing the innovative Peugeot to win
from Fiat team-mate Wagner.
Despite
being such a brilliant driver, still only 22 years old, Bruce-Brown crashed
fatally later that year practicing for the Vanderbilt Cup at Milwaukee, after a
worn tyre burst. His mechanic Tony Scudelari also died.
1957: MOSS BEATS FANGIO
And now
for a more modern pairing, Moss and Fangio for just one race together in the
Maserati team for the 1957 Argentine GP. Only after doing my Rating System
study in 2002 did I discover this phenomenon: that Moss was actually somewhat
faster than Fangio! Sacreligious as it sounds, and despite general consensus
that Fangio was supreme in GP cars, I wrote it up in detail elsewhere on my
blog.
For the
1957 season opener Moss’s Vanwall team were not ready, and released Moss to
drive for Maserati, alongside Fangio. Moss outqualified Fangio by a whole second
for pole, but suffered a broken accelerator linkage on the grid. He spent nine
laps at his pit for repairs, then charged back out, continually broke the lap
record and made up two laps on ‘The Old Man’ who won. Having lost so much time,
Moss still only managed to finish eighth.
Hereafter
Moss went back to Vanwall for the rest of the 1957 season, which was a slower,
more difficult-to-drive car than the Maserati.
According
to my rating System, Moss was actually faster than Fangio from 1956 onwards;
not surprising considering Moss was 28 and into his 7th season, and
Fangio was 46. It was primarily Fangio’s superior cars (1956 Lancia-Ferrari and
1957 Maserati) that enabled him to beat Moss in those years.
RICCIARDO NOT UNIQUE
In the
120 year history of Grand Prix racing since 1894, there are several other
examples of young drivers challenging and even beating established top-rated
drivers in same-teams. Fernand Charron dominated his experienced Panhard
team-mates in 1898; rookie Lancia driver Eugenio Castellotti challenged Ascari
in 1955, and proved much faster than his experienced Lancia-Ferrari team-mates
Collins and Hawthorn in 1956-7 (see separate feature in this blog).; rookie
Jackie Stewart challenged his team-mate Graham Hill at BRM in 1965; in 1979 the
young Gilles Villeneuve matched Jody Scheckter at Ferrari…
So it
is clear that Ricciardo beating Vettel in 2014 is not a unique occurrence.
Besides, meritorious as it is, unlike de Palma, Bruce-Brown, Rosemeyer, Stewart
or Hamilton, Ricciardo is no rookie.
© Patrick O’Brien. Nothing from this page can
be used without the permission of Patrick E. O’Brien.
***
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