All the teams and drivers’ fans had different sorts of woes during the last season. To list a few, Charles Leclerc’s fandom had a whole new level of disappointment, and Sergio Perez’s side faced betrayal. But one that was common for the F1 fans was the departure of Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher from their seats at McLaren and Haas, respectively. Though Ricciardo had a couple of offers, his exit surely made the fans unhappy. However, the two have not strayed far from Formula 1. Daniel at Red Bull and Mick at Mercedes have landed similar but different roles. One might think Mick’s role as the reserve driver, besides Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, would be better compared to Daniel’s if we are talking about what would get them a better seat. But from what it appears, Daniel’s off-track role could prove to be handier.
As the hosts of The Last Lap podcast, Tommo and Niran, bring to light by drawing the comparison between the two, they say, “We know what Daniel Ricciardo offers when he’s in the car that suits him the most. And again he has that marketing where you will just see him all the time like he’s so globally as a person he’s like so good for branding and so good for going to events and stuff like that. You’re going to see him like every grand other Grand Prix doing something cool riding a horse or doing some cool Red Bull activation or something.
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“Whereas with Mick yeah cool you might see him around like he’s got the name and stuff like that I’m sure they were getting him involved to a degree but he doesn’t have that same racing pedigree that other teams are going to look at and go oh my God,” they concluded.
The other factor that can add to Mick’s misery is the fact that he will have fewer chances to get hands-on time with an F1 car when compared to Ricciardo. But even if he does, chances are his performance will be overshadowed by his teammates.
The understanding and chemistry between Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull have been great since he termed his comeback to Milton-Keynes as a return to his home. But his return is quite conditional, as he returns only as a third driver without any guaranteed time behind the wheel on the weekends.
