Ricciardo to McLaren anyway: Is he finally getting the luck he deserves?

Late bloomer

With thirty years Ricciardo is no longer the youngest in Formula 1, but he certainly still has some years ahead of him. With the British Formula 3 championship and the title in Formula Renault 2.0 in his pocket, Ricciardo will have a chance in Formula 1 in 2011. He will drive eleven races for the HRT team, because there is no place in Red Bull's training yet.

Despite driving stiff at the back, Ricciardo impresses Helmut Marko and will have a chance at Toro Rosso in 2012. In his first year he's still struggling with teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, but in 2013 he wins the internal game and that's just in time. The departing Mark Webber leaves a gap at Red Bull Racing and Ricciardo is allowed to fill in his compatriot's spot.

However, the Australian is unlucky, because where Red Bull has been dominant the previous four seasons, 2014 is the year of the downturn. Mercedes climbs to the top and puts the competition to watch. Ricciardo may beat four-time world champion Vettel in the internal duel, but more than three victories won't bring Ricciardo any results.

Too late at Red Bull Racing

Vettel leaves and Ricciardo becomes the leader of Red Bull. However, the team keeps falling back and in 2015 Ricciardo won't even win a single race. However, the arrival of Max Verstappen in 2016 puts Ricciardo back on track, because on his debut Verstappen wins a race immediately. Later that year Ricciardo will win in Malaysia and he will finish well ahead of the Dutchman in the standings.

In 2017 Ricciardo wins another race, but Verstappen impresses more and more and the Dutchman wins twice. Verstappen stands out a lot at the beginning of the season and therefore ends in the standings under the Australian. However, Red Bull knows enough and offers Verstappen a new contract early 2018.

That contract is higher than Ricciardo's and that makes the Australian think. In the first six races Verstappen disappoints with several crashes, while the less paid Ricciardo wins two races. Ricciardo preys on a departure to Mercedes or Ferrari, but those teams don't knock.

Head of the wrong team

Ricciardo knows enough and decides to leave anyway. He wants to be the leader of a team and has full confidence in Renault. Ricciardo is certainly a leader there, but the promised performance is disappointing and Ricciardo looks a bit jealous at the winning Verstappen and even better performing McLaren, while that team told him honestly that performance would take some time. Ricciardo, however, fell for the talk of Renault and came in a dip.

With the departure of Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari, however, there is another opportunity for the ideal signboard. The man with the big smile will have made a phone call to Maranello, but Ferrari chooses Sainz. However, this offers Ricciardo a new chance to knock on McLaren's door, where he can now take the lead from 2021.

With Andreas Seidl, James Key and Zak Brown, McLaren has created a good team with which it can look to the future. The new rules and the budget cap are a great opportunity for the team to prove themselves and a proven winner like Ricciardo fits perfectly in this picture. It is to be hoped that Ricciardo finally gets lucky and doesn't choose another team that can't win.