2014 season review: Red Bull

For the first time since the 2010 season, Red Bull failed to win the constructors championship, nor was Vettel crowned champion. Despite this, Red Bull has had a largely positive season with 3 wins from Ricciardo that has secured them second place in the constructor's championship.

For 2014, Red Bull lost Mark Webber who retired from Formula One to race for Porsche in the WEC series and also in Le Mans. Mark Webber's replacement came in the shape of fellow Australian and previous Toro Rosso and HRT driver Daniel Ricciardo who had been picked over Vergne to join Red Bull for the 2014 season.

Pre-season testing was a nightmare for Red Bull. Whether the car would run or not was “hit and miss”. In Jerez, the car's running was measured in corners, not laps. In Bahrain, the RB10 looked much more reliable- some days. It seemed that cooling was a big issue for Renault engined cars, with some teams suffering more than others.

By the time of the first race of the season in Australia, Red Bull came up with some cooling solutions and despite the hotter conditions at the Albert Park circuit, they did manage to run for the majority of practice. In a wet qualifying Daniel Ricciardo split the Mercedes in P2, whilst his reigning 4-time world champion team-mate was eliminated in Q2!

Whilst Vettel retired on Lap 3, Ricciardo stormed to a second place finish in front of his home country on his Red Bull debut, only to be disqualified for exceeding the fuel limit afterwards and being stripped of his second place.

Despite scoring no points in Australia, Red Bull looked to be title contenders once again and in Malaysia, Sebastian Vettel came close to overtaking Rosberg to prevent a 1-2 finish for the Mercedes team. Unfortunately for Red Bull, this was the closest their comparative pace was to the Silver Arrows all year.

They needed some luck to stand a chance of finishing ahead of them. That luck came first in Canada where both Mercedes almost simultaneously suffered ERS failures leaving them without 160 horsepower on one of F1's most power demanding circuits. Ricciardo eventually superbly weaved his way through the field to overtake Rosberg to win his first F1 race.

Red Bull disappointed their owners and fans at the ironically named “Red Bull Ring” track in Austria where Mercedes were running away in the standings.

Winning the Constructor's was now unrealistic- but out of nowhere some more “luck” came along.

Hamilton's engine fire in qualifying left a Mercedes starting from pit-lane in Hungary, and Rosberg was awfully unfortunate with the timing of the first safety car. Ricciardo started in second place on the grid and drove a clean race. Meanwhile, Vettel was struggling in the wet conditions and spun and was struggling to adapt to the 2014 car it seemed.

Ricciardo's fresh tyres at the end made Hamilton and Alonso easy meat and he crossed the line to win his second race of the season. Little did he know that he'd win again after the summer break? Ricciardo made it back-to-back wins with another win in Belgium.

Again, the Mercedes pace was hindered by a collision on the first lap between both of their drivers, but a win is a win and Ricciardo was catching the Mercedes drivers in the standings.

Many pundits and fans were asking the following question; what was happening to Vettel? His new team mate had been in the team for less than a year and was stealing the spotlight completely. Sebastian was vocally annoyed earlier in China and initially refused to let Ricciardo pass to maximise the potential of his strategy, replying to the teams request with “tough luck”. Vettel's form was about to improve in the next couple of races after Italy.

Red Bull claimed their second double podium of the year in Singapore (Canada being the other). Red Bull grasped the opportunity when Rosberg's Mercedes was struggling to even move. Vettel fought off Ricciardo to keep second place which was his best result of the year. Vettel scored his final podium of the year at the following race in Japan, the same time he announced that he would leaving the team to join Ferrari in 2015 with Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat replacing him next season.

After Sochi, it was mathematically impossible for both drivers to win the Championship which didn't come as a surprise. Their attention turned to beating the surging Williams pair. For the final four races of the season, Red Bull had the second fastest car.

Red Bull were so isolated in the constructors championship they had nothing to worry about, despite being disqualified for the second time this season in qualifying in Austin for failing to pass a front wing flex test.

After four straight driver's and constructor's championships, the pressure was always on Red Bull Racing (RBR) to maintain their supremacy in 2014 and push on for five straight titles. And they'll have turned all their focus to 2015 already.

Whilst the rule changes shook everything up, Red Bull have not had a disaster by any stretch of the imagination. Behind Mercedes, they've often been clearly, or fighting for, second best, and occasionally, beaten the Mercedes as well.

However, for a team that scored nine straight victories at the end of 2013, and became accustomed to their four years of total domination, to not be setting the pace would always be a disappointment and a step back for them but this gives them a platform on which to develop the car and improve as they head into the 2015 season.

Daniel Ricciardo – 238 points / 3rd in the Driver's championship

Ricciardo has been the revelation for many pundits and fans this season. We did all wonder if Red Bull had picked the right driver to replace Mark Webber, but Ricciardo has done really well, adapting to both the Red Bull car and new style of driving required by F1's new era.

Some commentators note this with surprise but for others, it was always on the cards. Regardless of his undoubted talent and ability, the fact that we've seen such outstanding and consistent performances so soon upon promotion is what has perhaps surprised people the most.

He has immediately taken the #1 driver status at Red Bull and his success over Vettel is thought to be a part of the reason the German decided to leave the team. Ricciardo even said himself that he didn't expect to see many chequered flags let alone win a race or three.

Ricciardo has outperform his more experienced team mate Sebastian Vettel in the Drivers Championship by 71 points which was a bit of a shock given that many expected Vettel to beat Ricciardo straight away. Even though Ricciardo has quite comfortably managed to beat Vettel in qualifying this season by 12 times to 7 times, he has also finished more races and laps than Vettel which was a huge surprise and showed in the process that consistency is the key to beating your team-mate on a regular basis, even if Vettel has struggled along the way with extracting pace from the car all season.

At the opening races of the season, Ricciardo claimed second place in Australia until he was disqualified for exceeding the fuel limit and was stripped of his second place. Ricciardo retired from the next race in Malaysia but achieved two fourth places in Bahrain and China, two third place finishes in Spain and Monaco and achieved the first win of his career in a brilliant performance in Canada.

As we headed into the summer break, Ricciardo finished eighth in Austria, third in Britain, sixth in Germany and got his second win under his belt in Hungary. In the second half of the season, Ricciardo continued to build on the strong performances he achieved in the first part of the season.

Ricciardo won his third race of the season in Belgium, secured a fifth place finish in Italy, a third place finish in Singapore, a fourth place finish in Japan and a seventh place finish in Sochi.

As we headed into the final three races of the season, Ricciardo finished third in Austin, retired in Brazil due to suspension failure and finished fourth in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

But overall, Ricciardo has excelled brilliantly in his first season with the Red Bull team and perhaps been the standout driver of the year and is perhaps better than Alonso, better than the Mercedes pair and head and shoulders above his four-time world champion team-mate.

Ricciardo has barely put a foot wrong, and his only non-scores were team errors. This is an unbelievable achievement given the calibre of his team-mate and the Vettel-focussed environment he walked into. All of this is even more impressive given his year began with heart-breaking disqualifications and retirements in Australia and Malaysia that were beyond his control.

Perhaps the biggest positive though, has been his three wins. Neither win was the product of strategy or luck. Each win came from ballsy, opportunistic overtaking manoeuvres with a handful of laps remaining, where a less determined driver may have banked a solid podium instead.

The strength of his results following on from these disappointments has been impressive. Ricciardo's ever-positive attitude has won many fans inside and outside the team, and the consistency and quality of his performances on track has seen him outscore his team-mate by 71 points and rightly so.

Sebastian Vettel – 167 points / 5th in the Driver's Championship

Vettel has quite simply struggled this year. He has been outperformed by team mate Daniel Ricciardo in the Drivers Championship by 71 points which was a bit of a shock given that many expected Vettel to beat Ricciardo straight away.

Even though Ricciardo has quite comfortably managed to beat him in qualifying this season by 12 times to 7, he has also surprisingly finished more races and laps than him too, showing in the process that consistency is the key to beating your team-mate on a regular basis, even if Vettel has struggled along the way with extracting pace from the car all season.

At the opening few races of the season, Vettel retired from Australia with a power unit failure when his team mate was disqualified for exceeding the fuel limit. Vettel achieved a podium in Malaysia, a sixth place in Bahrain, a fifth place in China, a fourth place finish in Spain and retired from Monaco with problems with his turbo.

Before the summer break, Vettel achieved another podium in Canada, retired in Austria, finished fifth in Britain, fourth in Germany and finished in seventh in Hungary. It was clear that Vettel was struggling to match the pace and performance of Ricciardo and needed to challenge him in the second half of the season.

In the second half of the season, Vettel tried his best to challenge Ricciardo and had a better run of form than the first half of the season. Vettel finished fifth in Belgium when his team mate took his third victory of the season, he was beaten again in Italy as he finished behind his team mate in sixth place, but bounced back with a podium finish in Singapore with second place, beating Ricciardo who finished third.

Vettel then finished ahead of his team mate again in Japan with a third place finish but then struggled to beat Ricciardo in Sochi and finished just one place behind him in eighth place. In the last three races of the season, Vettel finished seventh in Austin, fifth in Brazil and in the final race of the season and his last as Red Bull driver he finished in eighth place in a difficult season for the World Champion.

Vettel will be unhappy with the RB10's reliability for him during the season with more retirements than his team mate but he'll also be wondering how he was not consistently competing with or beating Daniel. It may be that Ricciardo became accustomed to low levels of grip at Toro Rosso whilst Vettel was driving a very stable car in 2013.

On the upside, he's made perhaps one error (the inconsequential spin in the rain in Hungary), and has therefore maximised his results at every single opportunity. You'd expect nothing less of a four-time world champion.

On the downside, he's clearly uncomfortable with this year's car and it evidently does not suit his driving style. He hasn't necessarily failed to deliver; he just hasn't delivered to the same degree as Ricciardo has. Four podiums in 19 races don't do his car justice. And it is a real shame for Vettel as he's not getting it wrong at all. It's just been a complete misalignment between driver and car, and as such, an absolutely disappointing set of results and Vettel will be looking forward to 2015 and bouncing back to his very best if possible.

In conclusion, the Red Bull team have not had a terrible season despite their frustrating start in pre-season testing. Circumstances haven't exactly fallen their way though, starting with the sweeping rule changes brought on by the new turbo V6 era. As with any major rules reset, all existing advantages were wiped out and the incumbent pace-setters would come crashing back into the pack as a new force emerged for a season of domination.

In addition, after seven seasons with RBR, Mark Webber decided to retire to sportscars at the end of 2013, leaving the way clear for countryman Daniel Ricciardo to be promoted all the way from midfield Toro Rosso into the big time at the front of the grid. Strangely (or perhaps not, given what we've witnessed so far), Ricciardo's promotion has been the greatest shining light of RBR's 2014 season and has provided them with three wins whereas Vettel has struggled to get onto the pace but has taken the opportunities to get podium finishes as and when they arose.

With their drivers near faultless, blame lies squarely at the door of engine supplier Renault. With an under-developed, under-powered unit that has embarrassed all their other teams, Renault has held Red Bull back when the car and drivers are clearly capable of fighting for wins and titles.

But Red Bull did do very well in 2014 but as the year went on and the grid settled into consistent positions, Williams looked like a big threat and took the highest points score of anyone with 66 points from the double points race in Abu Dhabi.

Had Williams had a smooth start to the season liked they hoped, Red Bull would've had competition for second place in the Constructors Championship. Red Bull will be hoping to regain top spot next year, but for once it wouldn't be with Vettel as Daniil Kvyat steps in instead to replace him as Vettel has joined Ferrari for next season.

I do feel that Red Bull will improve next season but so will Mercedes and I do expect the gap to close a little, but they have a lot of work to do if they want to beat them and beat to the standard that they would like to and also what the fans are used to too.

Sarah Jones