The Canadian Grand Prix was an excellent enthralling race from start to finish and will be remembered for the shock maiden Formula One victory for Australian Daniel Ricciardo.
‘Hats off the Daniel. The way he’s come into the team this year, the way he’s performed, he’s grown in confidence and stature and he really deserves this victory,’ Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports.
With Daniel Ricciardo securing his first Formula One Grand Prix victory, Red Bull Racing can sit back in the knowledge that their development programme is working.
Despite Sebastian Vettel coming through the programme, winning whilst at Toro Rosso and going on to secure four consecutive Formula One World Championships, there had remained question marks over the junior programme.
With all of Red Bull’s investment in the programme, they had expected a conveyor belt of talent to rise through the ranks of Toro Rosso and into the main team Red Bull.
But it didn’t appear to be happening. Despite giving Formula One experience at Toro Rosso to the likes of Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed, Sébastien Bourdais, Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi none looked set to displace veteran driver Mark Webber at Red Bull.
It was only once Webber conceding his long running feud with Vettel that talk of a promotion for either Jean-Éric Vergne or Daniel Ricciardo came about.
It was a close run thing and many expected Vergne to take the seat, but as it transpired it was Ricciardo who got the nod and he has taken his opportunity with both hands.
Horner concluded: ‘It’s fantastic testimony to the junior programme that we’re discovering young talent on merit like Sebastian Vettel and like Daniel Ricciardo. All credit to Red Bull and the job that Helmut [Marko]’s done in identifying these young drivers and giving them the chance,’
‘Daniel was a young guy who came over from Australia with very little prospect of furthering his career had it not been for Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz’s support and backing through the junior formula, through the junior team, into Toro Rosso and onto Red Bull Racing.
With the exception of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Ricciardo has beaten Vettel in every race so far this season.
In Australia he stood on the podium, only to later be disqualified for a fuel rule break. In Bahrain Ricciardo finished 4th to Vettel’s 6th, in China again Ricciardo finished 4th to Vettel’s 5th, in Spain Ricciardo was back on the podium in third with Vettel 4th. In Monaco Vettel retired, whilst once again Ricciardo was third and then in Canada Ricciardo won the race, whilst Vettel took his first podium of the season thanks in part to the last lap crash of Perez and Massa.
Ricciardo now leads Vettel by 19 points in the drivers championship.
Horner congratulates Red Bull driver programme
