Daniel Ricciardo’s teammate Jean-Eric Vergne has come out in support of the young Australian.

Vergne said, “I think it’s my teammate Daniel Ricciardo who should get the job, not Kimi Raikkonen“. He went on to say “If Daniel, who at the moment is doing better than me, is running alongside Sebastian Vettel, it will show the quality of the young drivers of Red Bull“.

Although theoretically still in with a chance to take Webber’s vacant seat, neither Red Bull nor Vergne ruling it out completely, Vergne appears to be graceful in defeat.

Someone once said “Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser“. Perhaps Vergne has just learned from the mistakes Alguersuari and others have made before him… don’t criticise management 😉

Sergey unhappy with pay-driver label

Sergey Sirotkin, who will set the new record next year as the youngest ever F1 racer, has hit back at claims he is a “pay driver”.

Once again the debate of pay drivers comes to the fore.  Although this debate seems to be more centred on the age of the driver as well.  The 17-year-old’s father is a key figure among the Russian entities that have bailed out the Swiss racing outfit.

Whilst talking to Basler Zeitung newspaper Sirotkin insists, “That is completely wrong.  There is much more to it. We are talking about a big project, where another driver could have been selected.”

He continues, “It’s not that I’m going to drive in F1 for fun, I have been selected because of my performance. I want people to respect what I do.”

As he is currently in 9th position in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, it surely is not his performances that have highlighted his potential for a race seat next year.  Whether he can prepare himself well enough in the months ahead, for what is a daunting challenge even for those with more years behind themselves; the jury is still out on that.  However, by being at such a tender age when he enters the WDC, it will make him a target for close scrutinising.

Any mistakes he makes will be put down to age.  One of F1’s elder statesmen, Jenson Button, has already said he himself made his debut too early, at 20.

Ricciardo in pole position

Eddie Jordan has gone on record to state that Red Bull will elect to replace Mark Webber’s vacant seat with his Australian counterpart, Daniel Ricciardo.  Jordan believes Red Bull will not look favourably on the Finn, due to his relaxed attitude.

“At first I was pretty sure that Raikkonen will replace Mark Webber,” Jordan says over ‘f1news.ru’, “but now I am ready to change my mind.”

It was Eddie Jordan who confirmed the news of Lewis Hamilton moving to Mercedes last year, at the Singapore GP.  The odds of Ricciardo replacing Webber have now been cut to 11/10, with Kimi still the favourite at 5/6.

Ecclestone’s replacement to be from outside of F1

CVC Capital is convinced that Bernie Ecclestone’s successor will not come from inside the motorsport scene. Formula 1 currently has 313 employees who work directly and 10 managers. There is no deputy, who is waiting to take over the reins of Ecclestone.

“This business is not large enough that it would be a successor in the immediate environment.  The successor will be most likely from outside,” said a source.

David Campbell (former European head of the electronics company AEG), Christian Horner, Justin King (CEO of UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s) and Stuart Rose (former head of the British supermarket chain Marks & Spencer) had all been touted as potential successors to the 82 year old supremo.