Young drivers “just adapt” says Horner as he reveals Ricciardo’s 2014 advantage over Vettel – In the world of Formula One, few drivers can boast a career as illustrious as that of Sebastian Vettel. The German driver won a staggering 53 races and, most importantly, secured four world championship titles.
By contrast, Daniel Ricciardo’s career, while by any measure was successful, has not quite reached the same heights with eight race wins and no championship titles. However, there was a time when the Australian held a significant advantage over his more decorated team-mate Vettel.
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2014 a turning point for Vettel
During the 2014 Formula One season, Ricciardo outperformed Vettel despite the German’s formidable reputation and record at Red Bull. Ricciardo secured three race wins and comfortably beat his team-mate in the championship standings with 238 points to Vettel’s 167.
Now, in a revealing interview, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has shed light on what gave Ricciardo the edge over Vettel during that period.
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Rule change and Ricciardo’s advantage
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Christian Horner explained that the 2014 season was marked by a significant rule change in Formula One, which saw the switch from the V8 engines used between 2010 and 2013 to the new, more complex V6 engines. This rule change had a profound effect on the dynamics of the cars and, according to Horner, played a crucial role in Ricciardo’s superiority over Vettel that year.
“From 2010 to 2013 we had an incredible run with Vettel winning four consecutive world championships,” Horner explained.
“But when we switched to the V6 engines in 2014, the car took on a different character. The younger drivers, like Daniel, who are still adapting and learning, tend to have an advantage because they are more open to new experiences and unencumbered by previous expectations.”
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Horner: Young drivers “just adapting”
Horner went on to elaborate on the nature of this advantage, explaining that younger drivers are often able to adapt more quickly to changes in car performance and regulations.
“When a young driver comes into F1 they are given a wealth of information about everything – how to brake, where to brake, driving style, positioning, tyre management and all the other aspects of driving a high performance car,” said Horner.
He added that, unlike the veterans, younger drivers often have fewer preconceived notions of how a car should feel and behave, allowing them to adapt quickly to new challenges.
“The young guys seem to have the ability to adapt very quickly. They don’t have preconceptions about how a car should be driven, so they just adapt and push the car to its limits, which is exactly what Daniel did in 2014.”
Prior to joining Red Bull, Ricciardo had been racing in F1 since mid-2011, with stints at HRT and Toro Rosso. Despite his experience, he had never driven a top-tier car, unlike Vettel, who has consistently won titles in Red Bull’s dominant machinery.
In 2014, design changes made the car more difficult to handle, particularly on corner entries.
“The car was a bit more nervous because of the new regulations,” recalls Horner. “[Daniel] quickly got the upper hand and was able to handle the nervous car better than Sebastian.”
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Vettel struggles with new era
For Vettel, accustomed to the precision and stability of Red Bull’s previous cars, the change proved challenging. Horner suggested that Vettel’s struggles in 2014 were partly due to his success in previous seasons.
“He was so used to a certain type of car – one that drove like it was on rails – that the change to a more unstable, unpredictable car was harder for him to adapt to,” Horner explained.
The 2014 season marked a significant moment in both drivers’ careers. After a winless year, Vettel opted to leave Red Bull at the end of the season for Ferrari, where he eventually returned to race-winning form, finishing runner-up to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton twice in 2017 and 2018. Ricciardo, meanwhile, stayed with Red Bull until 2018 before moving on to Renault and later McLaren.
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Ricciardo replaced by younger talent
Ricciardo’s return to the Red Bull fold in 2023 as a reserve driver for the Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s sister team, marked what could be the twilight of his F1 career. After struggling to regain his top form, Ricciardo was replaced by Liam Lawson, a driver 13 years his junior, after the Singapore Grand Prix in 2023.
Reflecting on the nature of a driver’s career progression, Horner mused that as drivers age, they may become more resistant to driving cars that are less than perfect. “Perhaps as a driver’s career progresses, they become less willing to drive cars that aren’t up to their high standards because they’re always comparing them to the better cars they’ve driven in the past,” he said.
For Ricciardo, the advantage he once had over Vettel – the ability to adapt quickly to a challenging car – may now be working against him. As Horner pointed out, younger drivers today are as eager and fearless as Ricciardo was a decade ago. “The young guys coming into F1 now are hungry and going full throttle, just like we saw with Daniel in 2014. That hunger to succeed is what drives them forward.
In a sport as fast-paced as F1, adaptability is often the key to success. While Ricciardo once used that ability to outperform one of the sport’s greatest drivers, the next generation of drivers now seems poised to carry the torch forward.
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MORE F1 NEWS – F1 venue may lose its Grand Prix due to lack of finance
The Spanish Grand Prix was one of the earliest to host the newly founded Formula one series in 1950. The following year the inaugural F1 event was held along the wide streets of the Pedralbes street circuit in Barcelona.
A lack of funds meant the race was cancelled for the next two seasons, but returned inn 1954 with Mike Hawthorn ending Ferrari’s dominance. The Le Mans accident in 1955 meant new regulations deemed the circuit unsafe in Spain and the Spanish Grand Prix was not held again until 1968.
With two suitable circuits in Monjuic and Jarama, the event was held at each in alternative years. The 1975 event was marked by tragedy and before the cars hit the circuit,. Concerns over safety were raised…READ MORE ON THIS STORY
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