VCARB busy polishing 'diamond in the rough' Tsunoda: 'Ricciardo helps'

F1 News

peter bayer on marko ruling and future ricciardo
5 August at 14:00
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  • Corwin Kunst

Visa Cash App RB is meant to train young, talented drivers for Red Bull Racing, but Daniel Ricciardo will soon have been in the car with the Faenza-based team for a year and a half now. Liam Lawson has been knocking on the door for a while and in Formula 2, Isack Hadjar is starting to do the same. Peter Bayer, CEO of the team, talks about the driver situation at VCARB.

Helmut Marko recently let slip that shareholders have made it clear to him that VCARB is a team that should give opportunities to young talents. It is therefore possible that this will affect the future of experienced driver Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian is past the peak of his career, but still holds an F1 seat.

"I think Helmut reasons logically from his position: he is in charge of the junior team, it is 100 per cent under his responsibility and logically he always has a very important voice when it comes to who drives," said the CEO, who thinks highly of the 81-year-old Austrian. "He has authority, he has the knowledge and he is incredibly focused on the junior event."

Why Ricciardo is driving for VCARB

That Ricciardo has again been chosen for this season is not without reason, Bayer stressed to Motorsport-Total.com. "I look at it a bit broader and I have responsibility for the complete team. We are actually talking about the famous big-picture issue here: yes, we need to develop young drivers. But in the end, you can also put it that Yuki is not quite ready. He has learnt a lot from Daniel when it comes to technical feedback, development, exchange of knowledge. He has also learnt a lot from Daniel in terms of emotional control and how to structure and plan his weekend. In other words, he is learning."

Bayer argues that VCARB are thus still polishing 'diamond in the rough' Tsunoda. "We are doing that with Daniel's help. Daniel has certainly justified his place in the team."

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi