Red Bull Racing

Helmut Marko, who is part of the management team for Red Bull motorsport, suggested the team's Formula 1 drivers and juniors should come together for a camp to be infected with the coronavirus, per Andrew Benson of BBC Sport. 

"They are all strong young men in good health," Marko said. "That way they would be prepared whenever the action starts."

The idea was abandoned after the rest of management argued against it.

"Let's put it this way: It has not been well-received," Marko said.

Eight races of the F1 season have already been canceled as a result of the global pandemic, delaying the campaign through at least June 7.

According to CNN.com, more than 740,000 people have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, leading to 35,000 deaths.

While the disease is more dangerous for older people, it can still be dangerous for young people.

According to the World Health Organization's emergencies chief Dr. Mike Ryan, 10-15 percent of people under 50 have moderate to severe infection, per Lauran Neergard of the Associated Press (via ABC News).

Marko, 76, also said he already had the disease in February before recovering.

"I had what I thought was a severe cold and the symptoms would match corona," he said. "It was also something that I had never had in this intensity."

He was unable to confirm his diagnosis because there was limited testing in Austria at the time.

Red Bull Racing have confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo will leave the team at the end of the 2018 Formula One season, with the driver set to join Renault.

The decision was announced in a statement on the team's official website on Friday, with team principal Christian Horner saying the Australian will move on with their best wishes.

"We fully respect Daniel's decision to leave Red Bull Racing and we wish him all the best in his future," said Horner. "We would like to thank him for his dedication and the role he has played since joining the team in 2014, the highlights of course being the seven wins and the 29 podiums he has achieved so far with us."

Horner said the team will now take their time to assess their options when appointing a partner for their other driver, Max Verstappen.

Following the announcement by Red Bull, Renault confirmed the Australian would be part of their team for 2019 on their official website; Ricciardo said he's looking forward to the challenge ahead:

"It was probably one of the most difficult decisions to take in my career so far. But I thought that it was time for me to take on a fresh and new challenge. I realise that there is a lot ahead in order to allow Renault to reach their target of competing at the highest level but I have been impressed by their progression in only two years, and I know that each time Renault has been in the sport they eventually won. I hope to be able to help them in this journey and contribute on and off track."

According to Jonathan McEvoy of the Daily Mail, the 29-year-old will makes the switch to the French team despite interest from McLaren. Ricciardo was reportedly interested in joining Ferrari, but McEvoy reported Sebastien Vettel was "though to be opposed to the idea." 

While Renault have not been able to compete with the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull this season, F1 journalist Pablo Elizalde is intrigued by the prospect of Ricciardo's move there:

https://twitter.com/EliGP/status/1025335942763237376

The news adds to the changes that'll take place at Red Bull in 2019. Not only will they have a new team-mate for Verstappen, they will be switching from Renault engines to Honda engines for the campaign too.

Ricciardo will be an asset to a Renault team seeking their first world title since 2006. In addition to being a proven winner, the Australian is one of the most vibrant characters on the grid. The key for his new constructors will be getting a car in place for 2019 to match that talent.

Red Bull have a problem simmering. It is only on the back burner for now, but it could become a full-blown grease fire next year. The problem, which was highlighted by the results of Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, is that they have two young, very quick drivers—possibly future world champions—under contract for 2017.

Granted, that's a nice problem to have, but, as their friends at Mercedes can tell them, having two top-level drivers in a championship-calibre car is sure to cause some headaches.

Max Verstappen burst into Formula One last year as a 17-year-old rookie with Toro Rosso, earned a mid-season promotion to Red Bull earlier this year and immediately justified the move with his first win at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, has been sort of pushed to the background of the Max Verstappen Show. If you are looking for him, though, just take a quick glance at the drivers' standings—he is 50 points ahead of the Dutch teenager (and more importantly, he has outscored Verstappen 143 to 116 since they became team-mates).

In Singapore, Ricciardo turned in yet another brilliant drive, nearly stealing victory from Mercedes' Nico Rosberg on the final lap. It was the Aussie's third second-place finish in the last four races, as he fights to keep his head above the rising orange tide.

"It's all about Max," Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko said in a recent interview with the official F1 website.

Indeed, Verstappen has incredible potential—but so does Ricciardo. We have yet to see the Aussie in a car that can challenge regularly for race wins, though he did take three victories back in 2014 and should have won from pole this year in Monaco.

So, what will happen if Red Bull produce a car capable of fighting for the title next season?

Both Ricciardo and Verstappen will feel entitled to be the team's No. 1 driver—Ricciardo because he is older and more experienced, with better results; Verstappen because he is a prodigy who was already drawing comparisons to the likes of Ayrton Senna before he started his first grand prix. That is where the headaches come in.

Red Bull have consistently produced one of the best cars on the grid, but, since the switch to hybrid V6 engines, even the best chassis has been unable to bridge the gulf created by Mercedes' superior power units.

With significant changes to the aerodynamic regulations coming for 2017, though, expect Red Bull to be right back at the front, possibly in a close duel with Mercedes and Ferrari.

In that case, Red Bull will have a difficult choice to make. Mercedes are so far ahead of the rest of the grid that they have allowed Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton to race each other freely for the last three years, confident that a few friendly fire incidents will not jeopardise their championships.

If Red Bull find themselves in a tight battle next year (or a subsequent year), will they feel comfortable doing the same, allowing Verstappen and Ricciardo to fight it out on track and hope for the best?

It worked for the team back in 2010, when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber battled the McLarens and Ferraris all year before Vettel edged Fernando Alonso, Webber and Hamilton for the title at the final race. Vettel then proceeded to dominate the next three years, assisting Webber with his decision to retire from F1.

A more interesting and relevant case study, though, comes from the 2007 season. McLaren partnered their own rookie prodigy, Hamilton, with Alonso, who was a reigning double world champion. The two were allowed to race all season, and Kimi Raikkonen ultimately beat both of them by a single point for the title.

Had McLaren decided on a No. 1 driver and focused on getting him the best results possible, Hamilton or Alonso might have been the champ that season. In fact, the very next year, with Hamilton as the clear No. 1, he claimed the title by one point from Felipe Massa.

The problem for Red Bull is that neither Verstappen nor Ricciardo are suited to be No. 2.

Back in June, after losing potential wins in Spain and Monaco through no fault of his own, Ricciardo said, per Sky Sports' James Galloway:

Part of the frustrating thing is that I really do believe, and I've believed it for a long time—I don't want to say it because it's arrogant—but I believe a lot in my ability, let's just say that. And I should be getting more rewarded.

I'm 27 very soon and I don't even have anything close to a world title and I believe I should have something like that very soon.

Those are not the words of a driver ready to step aside and support his team-mate's title push.

Meanwhile, Red Bull did not rush Verstappen into F1 and then promote him after the fourth race of his second year for him to play second fiddle.

This will be Red Bull's third year in a row without a title, and it is doubtful the team brass cares who wins the championship next year—as long as it's one of their drivers. From a sponsorship perspective, Ricciardo's charm is as valuable as the controversy Verstappen has courted. Anything that draws eyeballs.

Maybe Red Bull will be able to let the season unfold without any team orders and one driver will naturally emerge as the No. 1 (or maybe they won't be in the title mix at all). But if the team is forced into making a decision and promoting one driver at the expense of the other, they must be very careful.

Ricciardo has already been linked with a possible Ferrari move, as the Australian told Autosport, and if any team principal told you that, given the chance, they were not interested in signing Verstappen, well, they are either lying or they should be fired immediately.

The second either Red Bull driver gets a hint that their team-mate is going to be favoured by the team, you can bet they will be reaching for the ripcord and looking for a soft landing at another outfit. And the only thing worse for Red Bull than getting beaten again by Hamilton and the Mercs would be for one of their drivers to jump to another team and win a championship there.

If everything goes to plan at Red Bull's Milton Keynes base for the rest of this year and the offseason, Marko and team principal Christian Horner will be starring in a delicate high-wire act in the paddock next year, managing the expectations of two stars.

It won't be easy, but it can be done. Maybe they can ask Toto Wolff, Paddy Lowe and Niki Lauda—the Mercedes braintrust—for some advice.

   

Matthew Walthert is an F1 columnist for Bleacher Report UK. He has also written for VICE, FourFourTwo and the Globe and Mail. Follow him on Twitter:

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Throughout their time in Formula One, Red Bull have done an admirable job when it comes to promoting a sport with a nasty habit of shooting itself in the foot.

From performing demonstration runs on snow-capped mountains and signing one-off sponsorship deals with the latest blockbusters, to allowing one of their cars to take on an army of eight grizzly rugby players, the team have often been lauded for their inventive, enthusiastic approach to marketing.

Yet those famed PR skills were nowhere to be seen in the buildup to their home race at their own track a year ago.

"What else has to happen that we will lose our motivation completely?" Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder and owner of the Red Bull empire, asked himself in Speed Week magazine (h/t BBC Sport), Red Bull's in-house media outlet, just two days ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.

His frustration, of course, was borne out of Red Bull's fall from grace—their tumble from championship-winning status to the obscurity of the midfield in less than two years—and specifically the struggles of engine suppliers Renault, who he felt were sapping "not only time and money, but also the will and motivation" from his team.

Mateschitz's comments effectively set the tone for Red Bull's home race as they—12 months after their favourite son, Sebastian Vettel, was left limping at the rear of the field in Austria after suffering a loss of power on the second lap—hit the lowest point in what became the team's first winless season in seven years.

Behind the wheel of the clumsy-looking RB11 cars, Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo were left to start 15th and 18th, respectively, as Red Bull—almost in protest against both their lack of competitiveness and the V6 turbo regulations—incurred grid penalties for exceeding engine-component usage limits.

After recovering to the dizzy heights of 12th in the grand prix itself, Kvyat perfectly captured the mood of the team's weekend, explaining how his race "was a bit like driving in hell" after a first-lap collision, per Autosport (h/t Eurosport).

Having made numerous quit threats in early 2015, that race—where Ferrari's Sergio Marchionne made a half-hearted engine-supply offer, per Sky Sports' Pete Gill—sparked one of the most dramatic off-track sagas in recent years as Red Bull almost found themselves chased out of the sport they had dominated as recently as 2013.

But as they prepare for their third appearance on home soil at this weekend's Austrian GP, Red Bull will be relieved they managed to hang on.

A year since their title-winning days were thought to be long gone, the team are now very much in the process of moving out of the darkness and back into the light, pushing "in a good direction" and toward what they hope will be a championship challenge in 2017, as Ricciardo told Autosport (h/t Eurosport).

Having often resembled a one-man team since 2015—such was Ricciardo's performance advantage over an inconsistent, erratic Kvyat—they now have "one of the, if not the, strongest" driver lineups in F1, as team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports' Matt Morlidge following the promotion of Max Verstappen in May.

Satisfied, despite limited running. Happy with our speed at #RedBullRing. More https://t.co/fKJq8E7lIL #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/iHG450Rt2E

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 1, 2016

And while their relationship with Renault had been volatile at the best of times, both parties can look forward to many more happy years together after a contract extension was formally announced at the Monaco GP.

The improvements made to the Renault powertrain last winter and, more recently, at the Monte Carlo race have undoubtedly played a huge role in Red Bull's resurgence, allowing them to challenge the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari on pure pace at specific circuits.

With three long straights, the Red Bull Ring was never regarded as one of the tracks that would play to their strengths. Yet Red Bull showed progress in the first two practice sessions in Spielberg, with the drivers classified no lower than eighth at a place the team finished no higher than eighth in the last two seasons.

When Friday's running came to a close, Verstappen—who along with his team-mate is wearing lederhosen-style overalls this weekend, further proof, maybe, that the team have rediscovered their old charm—explained he was pleasantly surprised by Red Bull's "good" pace, per Motorsport.com's Charles Bradley.

The teenager added it "will be very good" if stormy weather hits Spielberg in qualifying and on race day as expected, giving the RB12 car another opportunity to confirm its status as the standard-setting chassis on the 2016 grid.

That, you suspect, will be the only way Mateschitz and Co. will be able to realise the ultimate goal of winning their home race in 2016.

But after being almost ashamed to welcome F1 to their own backyard when they were in a state of such despair and disarray last season, the team should have more reasons to celebrate this time.

And, perhaps, to put on the kind of show we would have expected when Red Bull's own track rejoined the calendar two years ago.

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Almost two years after their last victory, Red Bull were winners again on May 15 as Max Verstappen sprayed champagne from the top step of the Spanish Grand Prix podium.

But as one driver revelled in producing a much-needed feel-good story for Formula One, the other was finding it difficult to balance collective joy with personal dissatisfaction.

While his colleagues fought between themselves to catch stray droplets of bubbly falling from the skies, Daniel Ricciardo was out the back, having failed to even make the top three in a race he once seemed likely to win.

That infectious smile of his remained, yet behind it was a driver unable to comprehend how his side of the garage—a group of people who were always there to capitalise on Mercedes' mistakes throughout his breakthrough season in 2014—had managed to throw "the win away."

"It's not hard to see Max on the podium but it's hard for me to not be on the podium, that's the biggest disappointment from today," he said, per Motorsport.com's Darshan Chokhani, explaining the team's decision to switch him to a three-stop tyre strategy came "too late" and "didn't make sense" in any case.

Ricciardo's mood probably wasn't improved by the lack of sympathy from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Horner told Motorsport.com's Andrew van Leeuwen the strategy change may not have had such a detrimental effect on his race had Ricciardo overtaken fellow three stopper Sebastian Vettel "a little earlier."

And almost a week later, Ricciardo was still complaining about the way his chances of victory slipped away, using the medium of Red Bull's Monaco Grand Prix preview video—which, by definition, is all about looking toward the future—to ponder the events of the past.

Per Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble, F1's eternal optimist admitted it wasn't "easy to move on," revealing he was still waking up wondering what might have happened had he completed that brave pass on Vettel at Turn 1 and reliving the moment both his rear-left tyre and demeanour deflated on the penultimate lap.

With Verstappen making an instant impact and Ricciardo's race ending in such farcical fashion, the Spanish GP had the potential to become a turning point in the latter's career as a popular Aussie—not for the first time in the history of Red Bull—found himself upstaged by a younger, record-breaking team-mate.

Great picture! Real sportsmen. #Ricciardo #verstappen pic.twitter.com/3t3mVDZS9W

— Sebastiaan Bleekemolen (@SBleekemolen) May 15, 2016

His struggles in healing the scars of Spain, as well as the wounds of China and Russia, meant Ricciardo's chances of success in Monaco—having successfully made it through a political minefield to be given Renault's upgraded power unit—were bound to depend on his ability to recover from that disappointment.

Now under serious pressure for the first time as a Red Bull driver and insulted that he was not the one with the honour of ending the team's longest winless run in seven years, would he overdrive in his efforts to compensate for those missed opportunities?

Or would he summon the so-called "Aussie grit" made famous by his predecessor, Mark Webber, who with two victories was something of a specialist around the tight and twisty streets of Monte Carlo?

Daniel Ricciardo was seen giving Kimi the finger in FP1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/EiS7tLq88n

— ThePitCrewOnline © (@PitCrew_Online) May 26, 2016

The tone was set as early as the opening free-practice session on Thursday morning, when Mr. Nice Guy's change of attitude was immediately noticeable, with Ricciardo almost channelling the frustration of Spain to operate with more aggression, flamboyance and determination than ever before.

Kimi Raikkonen's error of holding up the No. 3 car in the final sector led to Ricciardo waving his middle finger in the 2007 world champion's general direction at La Rascasse little more than 30 minutes into the most insignificant session of a grand prix weekend.

When he ended FP2 at the top of the time sheets by a margin of 0.6 seconds and was asked how that gap could be divided between the performance of the chassis, the engine and the driver, Ricciardo told Sky Sports' television coverage it was "99.9 per cent" down to him.

That’s P1 and pole position at the #MonacoGP for @DanielRicciardo!  His first pole position in #F1!  pic.twitter.com/wKaJlRF0iK

— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 28, 2016

The quip was delivered in typical, charming fashion but with the confidence of someone increasingly at home with the most challenging circuit of them all.

Such was his pace on Thursday that Ricciardo arguably entered qualifying as the favourite for pole position, and his decisive lap in the final segment—described by Horner as "dynamite," per Sky Sports' Matt Morlidge—was the act of a driver prepared to end the session in the barrier for the sake of ending it on pole.

Even then, having found the balance between risk and reward, he persevered with his new approach. 

He roared over pit-to-car radio in celebration, nodded self-approvingly when it was noted he had secured his maiden F1 pole in the FIA press conference and again joked his "big Australian balls" were the main reason behind his performance.

But balls, of course, are nothing without brains, and Red Bull's strategic masterstroke of forcing Ricciardo to complete his fastest Q2 lap on super-soft tyres should magnify his advantage over Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who will both start the race on the less durable ultra-softs.

After letting their driver down in Spain, the team have given Ricciardo the perfect platform to claim the victory his performances in the opening months of 2016 deserve.

And to provide further proof there is plenty of steel behind the smile.

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In the 1990s, there were 10 first-time Formula One grand prix winners. In the 2000s, there were 14. This decade, at least until Sunday, there had only been three: Nico Rosberg, Pastor Maldonado and Daniel Ricciardo.

Red Bull and Mercedes (and, more specifically, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton) have largely dominated the 2010s, leaving precious little room for newcomers to break into the exclusive club of grand prix winners, which numbers only 106 over the the 66-year history of F1.

But at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, 18-year-old Max Verstappen did just that, also setting the record as the youngest race winner in the sport's history.

Yes, it took a double-retirement from the championship-leading Mercedes team to set up Verstappen's victory, but forget that for a moment. What we witnessed on a mild spring afternoon in the hills outside Barcelona was a masterful drive by a crafty veteran...not a teenager in his first race with a new team.

In a sport growing weary of win after win from the Silver Arrows, Verstappen's triumph provides a reminder of what F1 is at its best: tense, unpredictable and brilliant.

Back in 2014, after Verstappen had just signed with Toro Rosso for the following season, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko compared him to Ayrton Senna, per the official F1 website.

That comment, and Red Bull's decision to sign such an inexperienced driver to their sister team, were met with skepticism and derision in some quarters.

Now, Marko looks like a soothsayer.

Promoted to the main Red Bull team just 10 days before the Barcelona race, Verstappen adapted to the increased pressure and exposure immediately, as he has throughout his brief career.

No previous car racing experience? No problem—he finished third in his first (and only) season of Formula Three. Too young for F1? No problem—he scored points in his second race, had two fourth-place finishes and ended his rookie year 12th in the championship. Undeserving of a drive with four-time champions Red Bull? Think again—fourth in qualifying and a race win (the team's first in nearly two years) the first time he sat in the car.

Senna won the 1983 British F3 championship before making the jump to F1. After a season with Toleman, he jumped to the more competitive Lotus team, winning the second race of the year, in Portugal.

Verstappen may not end up a three-time world champion, but so far Marko's comparison looks valid.

After qualifying in Spain, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner compared Verstappen to another multiple world champion on Sky Sports' television coverage. "His mannerisms remind me an awful lot of a young German we had a couple of years ago—his demeanour, his calmness in the car," he said, referring to Vettel.

He's hasn't just rewritten the record books

He's torn them up and we've had to start again#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/TgSogCDSIL

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 15, 2016

Through the first two corners of Sunday's race, everything was following a familiar script from the last three seasons, with the two Silver Arrows clear of the pack and ready to sprint off into the distance.

But Rosberg unexpectedly slowed at the exit of Turn 3 and moved to his right at the exact moment Hamilton dove for the same gap. Hamilton was forced onto the grass and then spun into the back of Rosberg's car, taking both Mercs out of the race.

At that point, for one of the few times in F1's hybrid V6 era, the grand prix was thrown wide open. At least four different drivers (none of them in a Mercedes) had a legitimate chance to win.

Verstappen had lost a place to Vettel in Turn 1 but stayed calm and retook it on the outside of Turn 3, seconds before the Hamilton-Rosberg crash. That manoeuvre proved crucial, as it left Verstappen second at the restart, behind his team-mate, Ricciardo.

The two Red Bulls continued to lead the Ferraris of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen until the second round of pit stops. At that point, both teams put their lead drivers on three-stop strategies, while Verstappen and Raikkonen looked to be stopping twice.

Verstappen first led the race for the six laps between his and Ricciardo's second stops. When Ricciardo stopped for the third time on Lap 43, the Dutch teenager took the lead again and never relinquished it.

This final stint, under near-constant pressure from Raikkonen, was the most impressive part of Verstappen's race. He needed to be perfect, and he was.

In the post-race press conference, Verstappen spoke of the challenge he faced making his tyres last for the final 32 laps of the race. "Of course you are not pushing hard on them, you are just controlling it, and I have to tell you, the last 10 laps, you are driving on ice," he explained. "It's like driving on ice. Sliding a lot but it's all about managing the last sector and get a good exit."

A few times, it looked like Raikkonen might be close enough to attempt a pass at Turn 1, following the kilometre-long pit straight, but he never did.

From the outside, Verstappen looked cool and calm inside the cockpit, but he admitted that he was getting emotional near the end of the race.

"I think on the last lap, I got a bit of cramp," he said in the press conference. "I was getting very excited. I couldn't believe it. I was looking up to the big boards, I saw my name, first, with 10 laps to go. ... I was just thinking to myself, don't look at it any more and focus on the tyres and bring it home, and that's what we did."

The Merc crash and Verstappen's win will not necessarily have a huge impact on the championship. Mercedes and Rosberg still have healthy leads in the constructors' and drivers' standings, respectively, and the Mercedes cars are still the class of the field.

In Spain, though, Verstappen silenced any doubters who might have remained and announced himself as a serious contender going forward—perhaps not for the drivers' title this year but certainly for race wins here and there, at tracks that suit the Red Bull RB12 or if the Mercs slip up again.

The young Dutchman has a formidable team-mate in the ever-smiling Ricciardo, but he has already shown that competing against the best drivers in the world does not fluster him. Meanwhile, Red Bull are expecting a Renault engine upgrade in time for the Canadian Grand Prix in June that could push them even closer to the Mercs and Ferraris, per Autosport's Lawrence Barretto.

Too much celebrating already, @Max33Verstappen? #F1 #SpanishGP https://t.co/3ddnZEvVBJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 15, 2016

The Monaco Grand Prix is next, on May 29. With the tight and twisty circuit placing a premium on downforce rather than engine power, we may not have to wait long for an encore from Verstappen. Another victory would likely require more help from the Silver Arrows (not outside the realm of possibility—it's a minor miracle it took this long for Rosberg and Hamilton to take each other out), but the Bulls should be competing for a podium.

For many drivers, winning a grand prix is the highlight of their career. Of those 106 race winners, 33 of them won only once. For Verstappen, you know it won't be enough. For fans looking for a break from the Mercedes monotony, though, Verstappen's brilliance in Barcelona is just enough—a taste of the magic that sometimes seems lost in modern F1.

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Perhaps the biggest compliment you could pay Max Verstappen is that, for two-thirds of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, he made the best driver in Formula One look average.

Over the opening four races of the 2016 season, Daniel Ricciardo had established himself as the outstanding performer on the grid, recapturing the understated speed and consistent class of his breakthrough year in 2014.

As he told MotorSport.com's Pablo Elizalde during winter testing, he entered his third season as a Red Bull driver reluctant to get his "hopes up with anything," but the sheer level of his performances had returned the belief, the momentum and the magic to a team recovering from its first winless campaign in seven years.

Fourth in Australia was the maximum result on a day considered decision-making was of paramount importance, and an identical finish in Bahrain—a circuit that should have exposed the limitations of his Renault-powered RB12—was a just reward for keeping a calm head when so many misplaced theirs.

China was one of those weekends where he was left to rue a "missed opportunity" despite taking "every opportunity" available. Yet his recovery from an early puncture to claim another P4—just seven seconds away from the podium—allowed him to celebrate "the equal best race" of his career, per MotorSport.com's Adam Cooper. 

And he would have almost certainly maintained that run of form in Russia had it not been for Daniil Kvyat's self-destructive start to his home race, which saw the 22-year-old nudge Sebastian Vettel into his team-mate, hit the German for a second time at the following turn and ultimately cost himself a seat at Red Bull.

Although he was left to stagger to an 11th-place finish with a damaged car, there seemed to be little doubt that Ricciardo—even as Nico Rosberg maintained his 100 per cent winning record at the Sochi Autodrom—remained the most impressive pound-for-pound driver in the early weeks of 2016.

As the European leg of the season began on Saturday afternoon at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, however, he didn't look remotely like the best driver in F1.

He didn't even look like the best driver in his own team.

First session in the car. Done 👊🇪🇸 @Max33Verstappen #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Odtp4XVsdH

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 13, 2016

Recruited to Red Bull as an emergency replacement for Kvyat, Verstappen—not for the first time in his short career—challenged conventional F1 wisdom in Spain, single-handedly dismissing the long-held belief that drivers require time and patience to adapt to an unfamiliar environment and alien machinery.

Having impressed Christian Horner with his very first flying lap of Friday practice, as the team principal told Sky Sports' Pete Gill and Matt Morlidge, the boy wonder established an immediate advantage in qualifying, pipping Ricciardo to third place by 0.171 seconds in the first segment.

If the Australian was unnerved by his deficit to the newcomer in Q1, he would have been alarmed by the gap of 0.407 seconds at the end of Q2, when he was forced to return to the track to guarantee his place in the top-10 shootout, as Verstappen had the luxury of remaining in the garage, safe in the knowledge he had already done enough.

Enjoyed driving the car, very pleased with 2nd row! 👍 😃 #SpanishGP Check https://t.co/fKJq8E7lIL pic.twitter.com/KlCVm1pocF

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) May 14, 2016

That extra lap in Q2 meant Ricciardo, with just one set of fresh soft-compound tyres available, was chained to the garage in the opening minutes of Q3 while Verstappen nestled his RB12 between the all-conquering Mercedes drivers following Lewis Hamilton's mistake at Turn 10, moving ever closer toward a surprise result.

But less than two years after hounding a certain four-time world champion out of Red Bull, Daniel was not prepared to let some whippersnapper arrive and instantly snatch the hearts and minds of the team. 

His team.

Start 3rd for tomorrow. Very happy with qualifying. Great performance from the whole team 🙂 pic.twitter.com/AeImBaXyJh

— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) May 14, 2016

And on his one and only lap of Q3, he found the lap time he had been searching for throughout qualifying to beat Max to third by the 0.407 seconds he lacked in Q2.

The symmetry of the Red Bull drivers beating each other by identical margins in consecutive segments offered an early indication the team, as Horner told Morlidge, now have "one of the, if not the, strongest" lineups on the current grid.

With Ricciardo ending qualifying just 0.4 seconds adrift of second-placed Rosberg, the battle of the bulls was proof that the most intense, evenly matched driver pairings in F1 enhance the overall performance of a team as well as providing both sides of the garage with valuable reference points.

VES did a magnificent job & RIC's response demonstrates that RBR has truly formidable pairing. Engine upgrade can't come fast enough #F1

— Mark Gallagher (@_markgallagher) May 14, 2016

Having spent his Red Bull career taking on first a lost, demotivated Vettel and then a Kvyat too wild and inconsistent to provide a worthwhile challenge, Ricciardo can now measure his performances alongside one of the brightest talents in the recent history of F1.

Likewise, Verstappen—now free from the rat race against Carlos Sainz Jr. at Toro Rosso—is now able to track his progress in direct combat with a driver who, on the evidence of qualifying, will continue to set new standards.

It was little wonder, then, that Helmut Marko—the head of Red Bull's junior-driver program, widely criticised for his harsh treatment of Kvyat—dropped his guard momentarily as Ricciardo crossed the line at the climax of Q3, allowing his normally stern-looking face to soften into a knowing smile as he watched from the garage.

This, as Motor Sport Magazine's Mark Hughes envisaged, really is "where the unstoppable object comes up against the immovable force."

And Red Bull will ultimately be the beneficiaries of F1's latest great rivalry.

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To Daniil Kvyat, delirious after claiming the second podium finish of his Formula One career in the Chinese Grand Prix, it was only an innocent question.

Wiping his face as race winner Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel—who had salvaged second place following an opening-lap collision with Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen—stood to his left, the Red Bull driver attempted to pierce the testosterone-filled silence with a little chitchat ahead of the podium ceremony.

"What happened at the start?" Kvyat chirped, as heard over the FOM television feed.

Onboard with Vettel & Kvyat at Turn 1.

VET: I had the Red Bull coming on the inside like a mad man...#ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/PkVvHYRHki

— Sebastian Vettel (@FansOfSebVettel) April 18, 2016

"You! Asking what happened at the start! If I don't go to the left, you crash into us and we all three go out!" shouted an animated Vettel, referring to Kvyat's opportunistic overtaking manoeuvre at the first corner, which sparked the friendly fire at Ferrari.

"Well, I was..."

"No, no well!" Vettel interrupted. "You came like a torpedo!"

El pique entre Vettel y Kvyat.
Ver VÍDEO: https://t.co/xWAl5ztjJu pic.twitter.com/ELp1amL29T

— F1 en Movistar Plus+ (@movistar_F1) April 18, 2016

"Well, that's racing!" Kvyat responded with his arms outstretched, laughing in the face of the four-time world champion.

And so it continued, with Seb explaining why he was caught between a rock and a hard place at Turn 1 and Dany reminding the German that he has "only two eyes," shrugging his shoulders and wondering why his competitor was quite so upset with a second podium appearance in three races.

When it became obvious the Ferrari driver would not be receiving the apology he appeared to be seeking, the cool-down room quietened momentarily before Vettel, unzipping his red overalls, made one last remark.

Vettel: "What happened is a racing incident."
Kvyat: "I will keep on risking like this." >> https://t.co/8KBFdoqgae pic.twitter.com/hJOwBjnzQp

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 17, 2016

"I know it's racing, but you need to expect when you attack like crazy and you damage the car. You were lucky this time."

At the time, as the lecture recommenced on the balcony of the Shanghai International Circuit, this was said to be Vettel at his most arrogant.

On a day Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne was in attendance—warning his team were running out of time to return to winning ways, per Sky Sports' James Galloway—he was embarrassed by his accident with Raikkonen and frustrated Rosberg had been gifted such an easy route to a third successive victory of 2016.

Nearly three weeks later, however, his comments feel strangely prophetic. Kvyat has now been demoted to the Toro Rosso feeder team and replaced by 18-year-old Max Verstappen just days after torpedoing Vettel twice in the space of two corners on a disastrous opening lap in the Russian Grand Prix.

It was almost as though Vettel, by far the most successful graduate of the same Red Bull junior program that guided Kvyat to a front-running seat at the beginning of 2015, had recognised a worrying—perhaps even fundamental—flaw in the Russian's driving on that first lap in China.

And while that aggression, that naivety, had served Kvyat well in Shanghai, it would not be long before it caused him more harm than good. It seemed his luck would soon evaporate and he would find himself causing a sizeable, potentially career-defining accident.

VIDEO: Kvyat hits Vettel twice, and caused him to crash out of the #RussianGP. #F1
https://t.co/hIam9bUcPJ

— F1Writers™ (@f1writers) May 1, 2016

The very accident, in fact, we witnessed at the Sochi Autodrom.

From the moment he became a Red Bull driver, Kvyat's performances had varied wildly between the good and the bad, with plenty of ugliness in between—think his costly, unforced errors in qualifying at Suzuka and in wet conditions at the Circuit of the Americas.

Although he had been lauded for outscoring team-mate Daniel Ricciardo last season, Red Bull's patchy reliability record meant the final championship standings offered an inaccurate reflection of the differences between the drivers when the gulf was evident in their performances alone.

As noted by Motor Sport Magazine's Mark Hughes, Ricciardo was consistently superior in one-lap conditions, and there seemed to be little coincidence that most of Kvyat's best race results were achieved through good fortune and often came with a helping hand from the other car.

His fourth-place finish in Monaco, for instance—a career-best result at the time—was only achieved when Ricciardo slowed at the end of the final lap to return the position Kvyat had given him a few laps earlier. It was a gesture of sportsmanship and a free boost of confidence he would have received from few others on the grid.

His maiden podium in Hungary effectively fell into his lap after Ricciardo used his car as a battering ram, making contact with Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at Turn 1 and clearing the way for Kvyat to finish second in a race he feared "was over" after an almighty lockup on the first lap, per ESPN F1's Nate Saunders.

And even though he was voted the winner of F1's new Driver of the Day award in Shanghai, his drive to third—on a day Ricciardo recovered from an early puncture to finish just seven seconds behind—was little more than a case of the driver with the fastest car with the least damage nestling behind a dominant Rosberg.

There are several other reasons behind the promotion of Verstappen, the most exciting talent to arrive in F1 for some time. He has been protected from the claws of Mercedes and Ferrari and will be afforded the time to settle at Red Bull ahead of a potential title challenge in 2017.

Per Hughes, his removal from an inter-team scrap with Carlos Sainz Jr. will also diffuse tensions at Toro Rosso, whose team principal, Franz Tost, had a "blazing row" with Verstappen and race engineer Xevi Pujolar—who has confirmed his departure from the team—after qualifying in Russia.

Yet the harsh nature of the decision—a hugely brave call when you consider it's much harder to drop a driver from the main Red Bull outfit than to eject the latest underperforming pretender from Toro Rosso—should not obscure the fact Kvyat had long since become the least convincing of the four Red Bull-backed drivers.

Recruited to Red Bull as an emergency replacement for the Ferrari-bound Vettel in late 2014, he looked increasingly like a junior driver being carried along by a championship-winning team.

And in an environment that demands excellence, constantly toeing the line between potential greatness and total disaster was never going to suffice.

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Daniil Kvyat got an earful from Sebastian Vettel at the end of last month's Chinese Grand Prix. The young Russian dove up the inside of Vettel's Ferrari at the first corner, spooking the four-time champion and causing him to swerve into his team-mate's car.

Kvyat stood his ground both on the race track, helping him claim Red Bull's first podium in seven months, and in the podium ceremony green room, when Vettel accused him of coming at him "like a torpedo," according to Reuters.

Kvyat was right and showed his mental strength in refusing to be cowed by Vettel. Planet F1's Michelle Foster went as far as to suggest it could be a career-defining moment for the then-21-year-old Russian. (He celebrated his 22nd birthday nine days later.)

On Sunday, at the Russian Grand Prix, it was a different story.

Kvyat slammed into Vettel as they braked for Turn 2 on the opening lap, and then again as Vettel appeared to slow in the middle of the long Turn 3. The second impact sent Vettel spinning into the wall and out of the race.

This time, the German did not wait until the end of the grand prix to voice his displeasure. "For [censored] sake," he said on the team radio. "Honestly? What the [censored] are we doing here?"

WATCH: Dramatic moment Vettel crashes out in Sochi >> https://t.co/SAMyzbZmkm #RussianGP 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/dGfti7tXOW

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 1, 2016

Just as when you drive into the back of someone on the freeway, this one was completely on Kvyat.

And as impressive as he had been standing up to Vettel in Shanghai, Kvyat was equally impressive in his reaction to the incident in Sochi.

"All the mess came from me," he told Rachel Brookes on Sky Sports' post-race show. "Of course, it doesn't feel great, but sometimes these things happen in Lap 1. It's probably the messiest Lap 1 that happened in my career...I apologize to everyone who was involved, and we will learn from it."

You could argue that Kvyat had no choice but to take responsibility, but his willingness to apologize still hints at a maturity beyond his 22 years. F1 drivers are not always so quick to say sorry, even when a crash is their fault—remember, for example, Nico Rosberg's stubbornness after wrecking Lewis Hamilton's Belgian Grand Prix in 2014?

The impact with Vettel also caused the Ferrari driver to slam into Kvyat's team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, damaging his car, as well. And if that weren't bad enough, all of this happened at Kvyat's home race, in front of his family, friends and even the Russian president. Perhaps it was all those expectations and the extra excitement that caused him to wait an extra split-second before braking into Turn 2.

In addition to a 10-second stop-and-go penalty during the race, Kvyat received three penalty points on his Super Licence.

Kvyat: 'It's easy to attack me' - WATCH #RussianGP reaction https://t.co/mfsnr237hN

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 1, 2016

"It's easy now to attack me, and I guess everyone will, but I'm OK with that," Kvyat told Brookes.

That maturity will serve him well as he faces a battle potentially for his F1 future. Kvyat earned a promotion to Red Bull after just one season at Toro Rosso when Vettel surprisingly left for Ferrari following the 2014 season.

Paired with Ricciardo, who was fresh from a breakout, three-win season, Kvyat turned in consistently impressive performances and edged the more experienced Aussie 95 to 92 in the drivers' championship.

Now, it appears Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen might be in line for a promotion to the big team for 2017, meaning either Ricciardo or Kvyat would have to move on.

"Very good drivers have always spent a maximum of two years with Toro Rosso and then moved up," Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko recently told German magazine Auto Bild (h/t F1i.com). "And Verstappen is extremely good."

Even if he were to lose his seat at Red Bull, if Kvyat continues to impress with his on-track results and off-track demeanour, he would be desirable for other teams looking for experienced drivers. Russia is also a large market, and Kvyat's status as the only F1 driver from the country is promising for commercial reasons.

Kvyat has already shown he can compete at the top level of motorsport, and one relatively minor incident is not going to change that.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stood by his driver, even after receiving a mid-race visit from Vettel.

"I am sure he was pumped up for his home race, but I just think it took him by surprise how quickly the cars stopped ahead of him," Horner said, per Autosport's Edd Straw and Dieter Rencken.

"He's young, and it's the first time he has been involved in an incident like this, and I'm sure he will learn from it."

As Kvyat said on television, some people will no doubt jump on him for his mistakes, but if we were willing to praise him for his response in China, we should do the same for his apology in Russia.

When 22 drivers are aiming for the same piece of tarmac at 300 kph, mistakes will happen. Once the emotions of the race have cooled down, everyone understands that, and Kvyat's humility will ultimately earn him respect.

But don't mistake that humility for submission. As he showed in Shanghai, when he has an opportunity—even a small one—he will go for it.

"To get on the podium you have to take risks," he said in China, per the official F1 website. "It was an essential move for me, and it paid off. We can talk for hours about it but I am on the podium; if I didn't go for it, who knows where I would be. I will keep on risking like this, and everyone should expect that!"

Instead of bashing Kvyat for his error in Russia, we should celebrate his racing spirit, particularly on the weekend when we remember the death of Ayrton Senna, perhaps the greatest racer of all time.

Follow me on Twitter for updates when I publish new articles and for other (mostly) F1-related news and banter: @MatthewWalthert.

Red Bull have released details of the car they'll be using for the 2016 Formula One championship, the RB12.

As shared by the team's official Twitter account, the colour scheme has slightly changed, with Red Bull opting to introduce a darker and less vibrant shade of blue:

The #RB12! Ready to take on the charge.
More 📷👉https://t.co/WVqosARgF6 #F1 pic.twitter.com/44AtTHAF6c

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 22, 2016

Per Red Bull's official website, a new power-unit partner, TAG Heuer, was also introduced.  

The new colour scheme was officially introduced on Wednesday, but Red Bull used an old car, likely in an attempt to keep their rivals from learning any secrets about the new design, per Sky Sports' William Esler.

No official details were expected to be revealed before the start of pre-season testing on Monday, but Red Bull instead decided to give their fans a glimpse of the car they'll be using in Barcelona.

Per team principal Chris Horner, Red Bull will enter pre-season testing with far greater expectations than last year:

Obviously the late engine decision last year was a challenge but we found a solution in time and the whole team has worked incredibly hard to recover over the winter. Therefore, we're looking to build on the significant progress we made in the second half of 2015 and to carry that momentum into the early races of this season.

My hopes for this season are that we genuinely make progress from where we were last year; that we get our heads down and we really develop the car well and hopefully with some performance coming on the power unit side as well that will allow us to get closer to some of our immediate rivals.

Chief engineering officer Rob Marshall expects the car to contend with the best of them and is hoping for some wins, while chief technical officer Adrian Newey was a little more cautious, as he told Red Bull's official website the current stable regulations are making it "difficult to find any major new areas to exploit."

Like last year's car, the RB12 will be fitted with Renault engines, but TAG Heuer will provide the power units for the 2016 season. Daniel Ricciardo will take the RB12 to the track for the first time in Barcelona on Monday.

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