Drivers: Daniel Ricciardo – 3rd, 256 points; Daniil Kvyat – 14th, 21 points (plus 4 scored at Toro Rosso); Max Verstappen – 6th, 179 points (plus 13 scored at Toro Rosso)
Best grid position: 1st – Ricciardo, Monaco
Best race result: 1st – Verstappen, Spain; Ricciardo, Malaysia
2016 World Constructors Championship Position (2015, 2014): 2nd (4th, 2nd)
2015 was diabolical for four-times champions Red Bull Racing – a public fallout with power unit supplier Renault prompting strong quit threats from the energy drinks giant. Pre-season testing didn’t provide a huge amount of promise for Red Bull – still with Renault despite their troubles (although running a badged engine). However Renault would perform much better than even perhaps they anticipated.
Red Bull F1 2016 Review
Red Bull would suffer from just two reliability problems across the season – Kvyat failing to start at Australia and Verstappen’s bizarre transmission issue at Texas. That, coupled with Renault finding more performance from their power unit than the other manufacturers bar Honda, along with the incredible Red Bull chassis we have come to know in recent years provided a great combination.
Ricciardo would produce a strong fourth place finish at Australia whilst Kvyat failed to start after engine troubles. Ricciardo would repeat his performance at Bahrain whilst Kvyat recovered from a poor qualifying to finish seventh. A puncture whilst leading relegated Ricciardo to fourth at China whilst Kvyat controversially took a strong podium finish. However the Russian’s season was about to deteriorate very, very quickly.
At his home race, Kvyat endured a diabolical day – crashing into Sebastian Vettel no more than twice, and in turn ruining his team mate’s race. This would lead Red Bull to making the very controversial decision to swap Kvyat with Verstappen. Many (including this writer) would question whether Verstappen would be able to manage such a position, but all critics would be completely silent after what happened at Spain.
Verstappen would make benefit of a different strategy to pounce on the two Mercedes colliding at the start to take a maiden win, absolutely annihilating numerous records in the process. Ricciardo would finish fourth again despite a late puncture. Verstappen would swiftly become the villain at Monaco – crashing out numerous times across the weekend. Ricciardo would take a brilliant maiden pole and would lose a win after a catastrophic miscommunication within the Red Bull team.
Canada and Azerbaijan would be tough for Red Bull, where the likes of Force India and Williams would be stronger. Verstappen would put in a mammoth stint on worn tyres to snatch second in the dying moments in the race at Austria after another Mercedes collision, and would again capitalise on misfortune for Nico Rosberg at Britain. Ricciardo would return to the podium at Hungary whilst Verstappen’s defensive driving came under fire for the first of many times this season, before fast starts would help the team to a strong 2-3 to finish the first half of the season.
Belgium delivered a similar result to Monaco – with Ricciardo second and Verstappen delivering questionable driving as he finished out of the points. Red Bull struggled at Monza where power is the main factor but in every race after then, Red Bull would have at least one podium finish in every race. A brilliant second at Singapore for Ricciardo, a fantastic 1-2 at Malaysia after more Mercedes woes, a fine second for Verstappen at Japan, and third for Ricciardo at Texas and Mexico. In comparison, Ferrari took just two podiums since Britain.
Brazil and Abu Dhabi saw incredible recovery drives from Verstappen, and outlining the potential within himself and Red Bull. Ricciardo is so consistently fast as well, and despite there being no World Drivers’ Championships within the team at the moment, few would argue against Red Bull being contenders next year.
Red Bull has arguably the strongest pairing of drivers at the moment – or at least the pairing with the most potential. Ricciardo was virtually unquestionably driver of the season and it would be unwise to deny the incredible talent that is Verstappen – albeit if unrefined still. The new regulations for 2017 should favour Red Bull over anyone else and if Renault continue their upward turn of form on the power unit side of things, then they will very likely be serious title contenders next season.
Main Photo
