After five years at Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel has left the team and moved to Ferrari. It was announced midway through the 2014 season that Daniil Kvyat would replace him in 2015, alongside the returning Daniel Ricciardo. In 2014, the team didn’t have the best of luck and were unfortunate to receive many issues throughout the season. However, there were a few races were Ricciardo was able to take home the win. This success should carry in to 2015.
Kvyat was nothing special in 2014. He only scored eight points – fourteen less than his teammate – and suffered many retirements. It is difficult to judge whether Kvyat’s performance was due to being on the lower end Toro Rosso team or if it is because he has not yet gained enough experience behind the wheel. If you compare him to his new teammate, Ricciardo, their Toro Rosso seasons were relatively uneventful. Therefore, a transfer to a better car may allow him to show his talents.
However, I strongly feel that signing Kvyat was the wrong move for Red Bull. The Toro Rosso team had another great driver that had proven his skill. But Toro Rosso and Red Bull turned their backs on this great driver. Now he has no ride for 2015 and will need to move on to a different sport. Jean-Éric Vergne would have been a much better replacement.
Although Kvyat is still a rookie, he is in good hands. Ricciardo has quite a bit of experience and success in Formula One and should be able to teach him the ropes. Ricciardo has all of the qualities of a future World Champion and has showed that he is capable of winning a Grand Prix. We will undoubtedly see him on the podium many times this season. He is a perfect driver to be teaching a young driver.
The bottom line is that Red Bull has assembled a fantastic driver lineup for 2015, capable of earning a step on the podium. Of course, it isn’t as good of a lineup as we saw last year. They lost their four-time World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, but they should be able to muscle through and have a pretty decent season. The car was slowly improving in 2014 and with all of the winter testing season to fix the glitches in the car. I’m looking forward to see how they perform this upcoming season.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
