No upgrades at all from Alfa. Just a track that suits their car and a slightly alteted quali format

Well this aged like milk

Did DR get utterly destroyed by Verstappen though?

Max beat him in the 2018 standings but Ricciardo got very unlucky with reliability that year. He had 8 DNFs, compared to 4 from Verstappen, 6 of which were down to the car rather than him.

Verstappen decisively beat him in qualifying but, with an average gap of just over a tenth, its not the embarrassment that it first appears.

Do I think Ricciardo can beat Verstappen? No, probably not. That said, he is the only driver to have beaten Max in equal machinery and they both have a preference for reactive front ends. With Max demanding an incredibly twitchy car, RB need a second driver that can reliably place their car high in the order. Especially since they may actually have to fight for the championship in 24 and 25.

I dont see him being shuffled out this season unless Ricciardo absolutely knocks it out of the park at the pirelli test. I think it’s more likely that he replaces De Vries so that they can compare DR and Yuki for the RB seat next season

I wouldn’t be surprised if Aston have already turned their eyes to next season since its always been their stated goal to challenge for wins in 2024. Their competitiveness this season was sort of unexpected

Hopefully with the new tyres, they’ll be able to change that to four laps

Will definitely be intetesting for 2026 onwards when we have 4+ years of capped spending and at least 6 engine suppliers

I hope they’re being paid well because this looks particularly horrendous