Well, unexpected, but not shocked. Some big questions come to mind immediately.

Do you think Nyck got a fair chance? He's underperformed, but wasn't given long
Will Ricciardo be able to get any results in that car? Has he gotten over the problems that led to his McLaren exit?
What could this mean for next year's RB/AT lineups?

path: 0 1125179, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 5

itsmikeyd 14 points 3 years ago

Marko clearly didn't like him. I'm sure Mark Webber can empathise this situation.

Will Ric be any good is a massive question. I feel if he can't make the AT go fast, that's the end of his competitive F1 career.

Who knows about next year. Could imagine Perez going if his results in qualifying don't improve. His season would be utterly dreadful if he was in any car but the Red Bull.

save

path: 0 1125179 1126057, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 4

PriorProject 9 points 3 years ago

I think it was more that Marko hasn't liked his performance this season. It seems as though Marko was the one that pushed for de Vries when Horner and Tost had other preferences. Marko has been brutal toward him recently, but I think that's a change and a reaction to missed expectations.

Supporting quote from https://www.espn.com/... :

Asked on The Inside Line podcast if he and Red Bull boss Horner often disagree about signings, Marko said: "Not often, but sometimes we do. The last one... I would say de Vries.

"Basically it's AlphaTauri, but we're a big family and we get opinions. He [Horner] was not a fan of De Vries. I would say at the moment it looks like he was right."

Here's the source claiming Tost was voting for Schumacher: https://www.espn.com/...

save

path: 0 1125179 1126057 1127954, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 2

monobot 7 points 3 years ago

Marco didn't like him, but he also didn't want to go to Williams where he would have been much safer.

But he chose shorter path to top car, and lost. Sad, but at least he had a choice.

And RB can test two "new" drivers for the price of one. This will be break it or make it for Ric too. I think Ric or Check will be in RB+AT next year, but not both.

We all new this since Ric got back to RB.

save

path: 0 1125179 1126057 1127785, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0